Kushina's Loss, Akatsuki's Gain
by ASDFG96
Summary: Naruto flees Konoha with Itachi to escape abuse caused not just by the villagers, but also by his mother. What will happen when Naruto encounters Kushina, who is hell bent on getting him back, during the Chunin exams as an Ame shinobi?
1. Chapter 1

**_Since, I've been having writer's block__ on my Pokemon story's_**_**, I've decided to write this. This definetly going to be the darkest story I've ever written, anywhere. This story originally was**** HaremNoJutsu**__**'s "Rinnegan: Eyes of God," which I've obviously taken over since they haven't updated it for years**_**_. However this also contains elements inspired by dracohalo117's Kushina's Love, Naruto's hate. It should be noted that in this story, Nagato/Pain and Kushina are brother and sister, and the Uchiha massacre is committed on Naruto's fifth birthday. Only about 5% of this is my original writing. For the other 95%, I credit dracohalo117 and HaremNoJutsu. Enjoy._**

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><p>Naruto was sitting in his room…well; it was more like a cellar closet. The floors were hard, cold, and uncomfortable, and the only thing he had to keep himself warm was the clothes on his back, which were too small for him, and moth eaten.<p>

He looked at the ceiling and cried, "H-happy b-birthday…t-to m-me…h-happy b-birthday…t-to…me…" he curled his feet into himself as he sobbed.

"SLAM!" the door to his closet was thrown open and he was dragged out by his hair. He was thrown onto the ground as the air was knocked out of him.

Standing above him, Kushina was stumbling over herself, the tell tale smell of sake rolling off of her, "Y-you…demon!" she kicked Naruto in the stomach as she grabbed a stake from the wall, "How dare you sing when you KILLED My Husband!" she grabbed Naruto's hair and sneered, "You filthy beast!"

She stabbed the stake into Naruto's chest, making the young blond scream in agony.

Kushina slapped him as she finished carving Naruto's chest up, "I am ashamed to have birthed you!" she stepped on his hand and began to apply even more pressure, "The only reason you live here is so you can work off your redemption for killing my husband and child!" Kushina spat in Naruto's face as she brought her foot back to kick him again, "Be glad I have a kind enough heart to let you live under my roof!"

Just as Kushina was about to kick Naruto, he closed his eyes as he felt a burning sensation. When they opened, the blue that was there disappeared. Instead, the eye now had a gray scelera, a black pupil, and a series of rings making a ripple-like pattern. Instinctively he yelled out "**Shinra Tenshi!"**

The effect was instantaneous. Kushina was flung backwards to the wall, dazing her. Naruto sprang to his feet and raced up the stairs. Turning back to her, he yelled out "You don't want me here! Well good! I'm leaving this hellhole and never coming back!" He slammed open the door and ran out of the house.

The last thing Kushina saw before she passed out of shock was Naruto's eyes, which looked betrayed, sad, and angry... all directed at her.

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><p>"Sasuke... Don't come in".<p>

"What?" Sasuke screamed as he burst through the door, "FATHER! MOTHER!" he shouted as he noticed their bodies on the floor.

"I warned you Sasuke" Itachi spoke as he stepped out from the shadows.

"BROTHER! Father and Mother are dea- ..." Sasuke stopped halfway as his mind registered what had happened.

"YOU KILLED THEM! Why?" Sasuke roared as he charged towards his brother, only for Itachi to seemingly faze out of existence and appear before Sasuke, his fist planted in the young boy's stomach.

"You want to know why? Fine, I'll tell you, this clan disgusts me, killing each other over such trivial things, power, authority, it's pathetic. If anything, the last 3 Ninja Wars have shown us that nothing good ever comes from obtaining such things at such a high price, namely thousands of people dead, but this doesn't seem to matter to a clan as fickle as ours, they were planning a coup to take over Konoha, and destroy everything so many people died for." Itachi angrily proclaimed.

Sasuke collapsed on the ground, being violently sick, before running to the door. "DON'T KILL ME PLEASE" he screamed.

Itachi calmly walked up to the boy, grabbing hold of his shirt and turning him around to face him. Before, surprisingly, smiling at him and telling him; "I'm not going to kill you Sasuke, you knew nothing of this, I had hoped I'd be able to make it away without confronting you, I'm leaving the village, to join a group that wants to bring peace to the world, I refuse to stay here. There are only a select few people who I respect in this village, who they are is information I'm not ready to divulge to you yet. Become strong little brother, and when you feel ready, leave the village, I will find you and we shall talk again. Goodbye. I'm sorry."

With that, Itachi struck Sasuke once more in the stomach, causing the boy to topple over unconscious. Itachi was already gone before his body had reached the floor.

**Streets of Konoha:**

Itachi was currently sprinting along the rooftops of Konoha, _'It should only take another 2 minutes for me to reach the gate, then I can –', _He was shook from his thoughts when an enormous chakra spike radiated around the area. _'What on earth was that?' _He decided to trace the chakra back to where it had first come from. He looked down from his vantage point.

"Haha, take that demon!" One of the villagers screamed as they kicked him square in the chest, easily winding him. Naruto had stayed silent throughout the entire ordeal, deciding not to give them any satisfaction. He noticed they parted as a man came forward with an iron pipe in his hands, his eyes widened as he realized the man was going to use it on him. The man stepped forward with a smile on his face, and was about to bring the pipe down onto Naruto's legs when he felt something throw him back, his eyes widened as he coughed up blood, feeling his ribs shatter inside his chest, as he was flung back and into a wall, he looked up briefly to notice the entire group he was with had also been launched backwards, there were corpses everywhere, their arms and legs snapped in grotesque ways. He died a moment later.

Itachi, who had been watching the ordeal, was about to intervene when he saw the man raise the pipe above his head, when he suddenly felt himself being pushed backwards by an unknown force, he had recovered quickly and gone to down to street level to survey the carnage, he was shocked by what he saw;

A small crater laid in the centre of the street with Naruto lying in it, looking around dumbstruck by what had just happened. Itachi walked over to the boy. "Naruto-kun are you alri-?" Itachi was about to ask him if he was alright when he caught sight of the boy's eyes.

'_What is this? This is impossible!' _He thought _'That ripple like pattern, I've read stories about it from scrolls in the Library, I thought it was a myth? They were supposedly possessed by the Rikudou Sennin, God of Shinobi! The Rinnegan! This boy, who exactly is he?' _Itachi was shocked by this new discovery.

Naruto looked around, his vision was strange, he could see chakra, or at least that's what he thought it was, if he focused enough he could see behind him, he noticed there was someone standing in front of him and he held his hands up to defend himself. "Please don't hit me again!" He had finally cracked, seeing what he'd just done.

Itachi smiled at the boy. "Naruto-kun, I'm not going to hurt you, I have a feeling the people who you killed families might though" Itachi thought about what he was going to ask the boy next and wondered if it was ok. _'He's got the eyes of God, I'm sure they'll let him join, he's not welcome here in this village anyway, ignorant fools'. _ "I'm leaving the village, would you like to join me Naruto-kun?" Itachi asked.

To say the least, Naruto was shocked by what this man was asking him, he was also curious as to how he knew his name but that would come later, he thought about what the man offered. _'Leaving the village? I'm not exactly welcome here but still, what about Kakashi, Jii-san and Ero-Sennin, I don't want to leave them.' _Naruto thought.

"Will I be able to come back and visit?" Naruto innocently asked. Itachi smiled at the boy "I'm sure in a few years time, you'll be back" He answered.

"Alright, should I get anything from my apartment before we leave?" Naruto asked.

"Any food you wish to take, we'll be eating on the move so nothing heavy. You will speak to no-one, if you do encounter anyone, ignore them and keep running. I'll give you 10 minutes; meet me at the North Gate." Itachi told him.

Naruto simply nodded before sprinting back to his apartment; luckily for him he didn't encounter a soul. He quickly packed various snacks and a change of clothes before leaving the key on the table and closing the door behind him.

**At the North Gate:**

Itachi was standing there, waiting for Naruto, he knew the boy would come, and his hopes were confirmed when Naruto came running around the corner. He skidded to a halt in front of him.

"Alright, let's go going." Naruto said.

Itachi merely nodded. "I'm sure you're curious why I'm leaving the village. I'll explain them to you soon as I know we're safe, for now follow me" He said before launching into the trees, Naruto following closely behind, easily keeping up with him.

'_Just what else can those eyes do?' _Itachi thought to himself as he remembered the directions of the map he'd been given, telling him how to reach Amegakure from Konoha.

**4 hours later:**

"Naruto, let's stop for a little bit, I think we're far enough away from Konoha to stop without needing a constant look out, I'd also like to ask you some questions, if that's ok?" Itachi asked.

Naruto stopped, catching his breath, before helping Itachi find a clearing where they could rest for the night.

"What supplies did you bring?" Itachi asked him. Naruto opened his pack and showed Itachi what he'd brought. There was some slightly crushed Onigiri and a few bottles of water.

Itachi looked at him for a moment. "Hmm, it's to be expected that you didn't know what to bring. Go and gather some firewood and I'll prepare what food we have. I'm afraid we can't stay still for long, but I'd like to you to answer those questions now." He told him. Naruto nodded and headed off into the forest.

Within five minutes, Naruto had returned with some reasonably sized branches that looked like he'd snapped them in half, and plenty of smaller twigs. Itachi was quite impressed by this. "Naruto, how did you know exactly what kind of things to collect?" He inquired.

"Oh, I went to the library and read a lot about Ninjas, I was going to enrol in the academy the day I turned 10, so I could prove to the villagers that I want to help them, not destroy them as they always seem to think" He replied sadly.

"I understand" Itachi replied, nodding his head slightly.

"Now Naruto, do you feel any different since what happened in the street?" Itachi questioned.

Naruto took a few moments before answering, "Yeah, I feel great, but my eyesight has become all strange and distorted, I think I can see chakra. It looks odd, around your body I can see these strange blue swirls, do you have any idea of what they are?" Naruto finished with a question.

"It's chakra Naruto; you don't see anything else, just the swirls?" Itachi asked.

Naruto just nodded. "I can only see the blue swirls; they're inside your body as well. Am I supposed to see something else?"

Itachi just shook his head. '_That's surprising, they can only see chakra.' _He thought.

"I want you to take a look at this." Itachi said as he handed Naruto his forehead protector. "Look at your reflection."

Naruto did as he was told and almost collapsed. "What's happened to my eyes?" He roared.

Itachi smirked before speaking, "It's called the Rinnegan Naruto, it's a legendary Doujutsu, said to be possessed by the man who discovered the true use of chakra and invented Ninjutsu, The Rikudou Sennin. I don't know anything about it apart from the thing we've just learnt, that you can see chakra. I'd also like to check something out when you've calmed down a bit more."

Naruto was currently staring at his reflection on the forehead protector; he gradually began to accept the way he looked, before moving the forehead protector closer to his eyes. '_Hey, they look pretty cool' _He thought to himself.

"Right, let me get this straight, I have a legendary Doujutsu, called the Rinnegan?" Itachi merely nodded, "It was said to be possessed by the man who invented Ninjutsu?" Itachi nodded once again, "Well, I've got to say, THAT'S AWESOME" Naruto shouted as he started laughing, Itachi had a slight unnoticeable smile on his face.

"It's quite ironic really, a boy who was constantly beaten and ostracized for something that was out of his control, will likely become one of the strongest ninja of all time." Itachi stated matter-of-factly.

Naruto stopped laughing after he heard what Itachi had just said, and just sat there for a few moments with his mouth agape, this caused Itachi to smirk and added, "Even if I reach my full potential, if you Naruto are to reach yours, I will not be able to defeat you, I doubt anyone in the world will be able to stand against you, however, don't think this will just fall in your lap, you will have to train for many years to achieve that level."

Naruto merely nodded before remembering what Itachi had said earlier, "What is it you wanted to check out, Itachi?" he asked.

"Oh yes, I just wanted to see if your new eyes could detect Barrier jutsu as that will be extremely effective if you are sent on Reconnaissance missions. Step back a few feet and let me use one, tell me if you noticed anything different." Itachi said.

Naruto nodded and stepped back.

"**Kekkai: Tengai Hōjin"** Itachi shouted after performing a few hand seals.

Naruto noticed it immediately, "I can see it, it's some sort of dome surrounding you."

Itachi was surprised, "I see, so you can see Barriers as well? That's interesting."

Naruto just smiled before sitting down again.

"Oh yea, Itachi, why were you leaving the village?" Naruto asked.

Naruto noticed Itachi flinch at the question before he settled down on a log, and gave his answer.

"I wiped out the Uchiha clan" He replied simply.

Naruto was shocked at this, not expecting such a blunt answer.

"They were planning a coup, and were attempting to take over Konoha, if they went ahead and did that, other countries would most likely get involved and attack Konoha without warning or repercussion. You haven't seen war, you don't know what it's like to see hundreds of people dead around you, it's terrifying. I did what I had to, to prevent a disaster." Itachi told them.

"I did however, leave my younger brother Sasuke alive, he will join the organization we're going to when he feels he is ready, he knows of the coup, it'll be up to him whether or not he accepts it, if he doesn't and decides to hunt me down, I'll kill him." He added before beginning to pack up his supplies and putting out the fire.

"Come, we have at least another day of travelling ahead of us, we've wasted enough time as it is." Itachi said as he slung his backpack over his shoulders. He quickly stamped out the fire, spreading dirt over where it had been.

'_They're sure to notice this, but we have, at least, an 8 hour lead.' _Itachi thought.

Naruto nodded before standing up and dusting himself down. Within moments Itachi had launched into the trees, with Naruto fresh on his trail.

**The Next Morning, in Konoha:**

"Hokage-sama! Something terrible has happened" A Chuunin rushed into his office.

"Yes, I already know about the Uchiha massacre, I also know that he's taken Uzumaki Naruto with him, leave me" Hiruzen replied without even turning toward the person who'd entered his office.

"Huh, so it's true then" A voice from outside the window called out.

"Yes, apparently the villagers decided to attack Naruto yesterday evening, Naruto killed them and joined Itachi. Hiruzen answered the voice.

Jiraiya then jumped up and landed on the windowsill, "He killed them you say? Was it the Kyuubi?" He asked Hiruzen.

Hiruzen shook his head, "No, they were killed by some kind of technique I've never seen before, it seemed like their organs were pushed back, the force must have been immense since all of their ribcages are shattered and there are several bodies with severally broken bones."

Jiraiya's ears perked up at this. "I see, would you mind if I had a look at the bodies? That description reminded me of something I've seen once before." Jiraiya asked.

Hiruzen merely nodded his head, before handing Jiraiya an access pass to the Hospital Morgue.

"I'll speak to you about it later." Jiraiya said before jumping out of the window and making his way towards the Hospital.

**Morgue:**

"This – this is exactly the same as before! The bruising on the chest, the organs scattered around the chest cavity like someone's taken them all out and put them back in however they please. Well, Uzumaki Naruto, you certainly are an interesting child, I look forward to our next meeting." Jiraiya said to himself as he walked out of the Hospital, heading towards the Hokage tower to report his findings.

**Hospital:**

Meanwhile in a private room, Uchiha Sasuke was lying in his bed thinking about his brother had said; '_They were planning a coup? Why would they do something like that? We were the strongest clan in Konoha! Now that I think about it, Father had been acting rather distant lately, and Itachi was acting strange as well...Itachi, he theoretically saved my life, I need to think about this more'. _He sighed before lying down and dozing off.

**Near Amegakure:**

"Ok, we're nearly there" Itachi spoke; he could barely be heard over the sound of the pouring rain.

"The sooner we get there, the better" Naruto grumbled.

**Amegakure:**

"Eh?" A voice shouted out.

"What is it?" A gentle female voice asked.

"Itachi has arrived, but it seems he's brought someone else along with him, their chakra is almost double mine!" The voice replied.

"What? How is that possible?" The female voice asked worriedly.

"I don't know, Konan, go and meet Itachi, it seems they all entered the village at the same time, so once you find him, I'm sure you'll encounter the other two." The voice told her.

"Hai, Nagato". Konan replied.

"Be careful" He warned as she was making her way out.

She merely nodded.

**Entrance to Amegakure:**

"Halt! What is your business here?" The Gate guard questioned.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi, this boy here is my travelling companion, we seek entry into your village, our reasons are our own." Itachi replied.

"You will state your reasons for being here, or you will be treated as an intru-" The Gate guard had already raised a Kunai to defend himself.

"Stand down, Masuyo, leave them to me" A woman had appeared behind him.

"A – Ah, Konan-sama, I will do as you say! Forgive me!" He bowed his head quickly before returning back to his post.

"My name is Konan, I am an emissary for the leader of this village, state your business." Konan told them firmly.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi, your leader is expecting me, these two people here are my travelling companions, and I request they be allowed in as well." Itachi told her.

Konan knew of Itachi's arrival, she just had to confirm it was him. She then took a glance at the other boy; he had his head turned around as he was looking around the village. She could feel power radiating off him; she cleared her throat to gain his attention. He turned towards her and she froze on the spot.

'_What! This cannot be, he's got the same eyes as Nagato! I see, this is the chakra he was talking about, he'll be a worthy addition to Akatsuki, perhaps even stronger than Nagato.'_ She thought to herself.

He grinned at her and said "Hey, my name's Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet you!"

She suddenly felt a faint smile tug at her lips, before she pushed it to the back of her mind and dropped back into her serious demeanour.

"Hai, now come with me, I'm sure our leader will want to meet and greet you both personally." She stated.

She nodded to Masuyo, and he responded, allowing the three of them passage and recording their names within the journal on the desk in front of him.

They walked through the gates into the city of Amegakure itself. All three of them were taken aback by how the city looked, although only two of them showed a surprised looked upon their faces. Itachi remained stoic as ever.

"Whoa, this place is amazing" Naruto spoke, voice filled with awe as he glanced upwards, his sight filled with towering skyscrapers.

It was at this time; Naruto had cast his gaze upon Konan, and noticed what she was wearing.

"Hey, Konan-san, I like your cloak" He said. She just carried on walking; neither of them could see the faint smile on her face.

They continued on through the city, with Naruto making stupid remarks almost constantly throughout the short journey.

They soon reached the entrance to the highest tower in the city and Konan stopped abruptly in front of it.

She turned and spoke to the two of them: "We're here, through this door lies your future, are you willing to proceed?"

She was surprised by how quickly Naruto responded. Satisfied, she gathered some chakra into her hand, and placed it across the barrier in front of the door. Once the barrier had finished dispersing, the doors opened themselves and they stepped inside.

They walked into a strange foyer, noticing there was no-one there, they passed through it and walked up the stairway on the other side. Reaching the top of the stairs, they stepped out onto a balcony, noticing a figure standing in front of them, leaning over the balcony railing, observing the village.

"Greetings Itachi, I see you've decided to join us after all." The man spoke. Itachi replied with a swift "Hai".

"But it seems you've brought someone unexpected." He said.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted out, only for Itachi to grab his shoulder, turning him around to face him and shaking his head, Naruto soon quietened down.

"He will be a powerful ally; that I can assure you." Itachi replied.

"Yes, I can sense that boy's chakra; it's stronger than any I've ever felt before, even my own." He continued whilst still looking out across the village. "But have you ever felt pain before? Do you know what it's like to feel like the whole world is against you, having everything you've ever loved brutally torn away from you, in front of your very eyes?" He asked. This time he turned around. "Do you know what it's like t-". He stopped dead as he opened his eyes and caught sight of Naruto.

"...What? This cannot be." He spoke quietly.

"Hey, your eyes look like mine!" Naruto shouted.

'_This boy, his eyes are the same as mine, yet he possesses almost twice my chakra, this is impossible, yet I'm staring right at him.' _Nagato thought to himself.

"What is your name boy?" He asked him.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto replied.

"I see." He thought about what he was about to say for a moment, "Very well, Konan, take him to an empty room, I shall be along once I've conversed with Itachi." He said.

Konan merely nodded while gesturing for Naruto to follow her.

Itachi nodded once before speaking. "You should know something else; he's the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi." This caused Pain to freeze before turning to Itachi, gesturing for him to continue, "But as I'm sure you've noticed his chakra pathways haven't adapted to the Kyuubi's chakra, it seems to me, that the Rinnegan has suppressed it's influence. You could theoretically remove the Kyuubi from him, without killing him in the process as his body doesn't rely on it." Itachi continued. "As for pain, he was beaten daily in Konoha, his apartment needlessly vandalized, there were a select few who appreciated him, I'm sure you know of them. It was Sarutobi Hiruzen, Hatake Kakashi and Jiraiya. The rest of the village is most likely celebrating his departure." Itachi finished.

"I...see" Pain replied. "He will be a fine ninja, I will have to oversee his training here though, the Rinnegan will crush him if he's not prepared for it. I shall introduce him and yourself to the rest of the members tomorrow; I have a plan that will require all of you." He stopped, seemingly thinking. He turned back to face Itachi before continuing.

"Now, I'm sure you'd like to get some rest from your journey, Konoha will never think to look here, so you're safe for the time being." Pain spoke, Itachi merely nodded before following him out of the room; they soon reached a door. "You can stay in here for now." He said, before walking off, leaving Itachi outside the room.

Naruto was currently sitting on his bed, bouncing up and down, with Konan standing by the door, watching him. The door opened and Pain stepped through. He glanced at Konan, before stepping in the room fully, and speaking to Naruto. "Naruto, I would like to speak to you about something, it's important." He told him.

"Alright" Naruto answered, stopping his bouncing and sitting the bed properly.

"So be it. I'm going to tell you about those eyes of yours, as Itachi has most likely already told you, they are called the Rinnegan, and were possessed by the so-called God of Shinobi, The Rikudou Sennin." Naruto merely nodded, before Pain continued. "What he most likely didn't tell you are the benefits of having such eyes; first, you possess all six of the Chakra elements, allowing you to perform almost any technique you wish. Second, they provide you with a huge amount of chakra just by awakening them; I won't ask what happened to cause this. However, it seems you had a huge amount of chakra to begin with, so your levels are now the highest I have ever seen." Naruto sat there in silence, taking it all in. "There's something I want to ask you; before you awakened the Rinnegan, did you have any other episodes? Fits of rage where you'd black out and wake up, not being able to remember what had happened?."

Naruto shook his head; "No, this is the first time it's ever happened."

'_I see, Itachi was right, there's no trace of the Kyuubi's chakra at all, even on his stomach, where the seal of Jinchuuriki usually is. We may be able to take remove it from him without killing him. It'd be a tremendous waste if he were to die.' _Nagato thought.

"I also know you're the container of the Kyuubi." This caused Naruto to visibly flinch. "However, we may be able to remove it from you, normally this would kill you, but it seems like the Rinnegan has suppressed it's influence from birth, therefore your body has not become accustomed to it's chakra, so it's just sitting there inside you. Almost separate from you." Pain finished.

Naruto sat there for a moment, he looked down at his hands and clenched his fits. He nodded to himself before glancing back up and saying:, "I'd like to risk it, I just want to be seen as me."

"I understand, tomorrow I will introduce you to the rest of Akatsuki and we shall begin the sealing from there."

They both nodded, before Naruto could open his mouth, Pain had already begun answering his question. "Your training Naruto, will consist of me teaching you the various techniques of the Rinnegan, however, I will only teach them to you once I see you can handle them. I'll have the rest of Akatsuki teach you as many elemental techniques as possible, we'll also discuss Taijutsu but all of this will come later. For now, I'm sure you'd like to rest. Come Konan."

Naruto merely nodded before Pain and Konan left the room, leaving him alone, Naruto merely laid back on his bed before saying to himself:

"Well, that was some birthday."


	2. Chapter 2

_**This is the second Chapter and was entirely written by HaremNoJutsu. And for the love of Kami, review or else I will hunt you down, point the M16** **my granddad used in 'Nam, and force you to!**_

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><p>Naruto was currently sitting in a meditative position in the centre of an enormous statue, 2 giant hands to the left and right of him, behind him a face with an unsettling expression, one of extreme pain, with a blindfold covering its eyes. There were 9 eye holes on it he noticed, all of them shut. As the essence of the Kyuubi was pulled from his stomach, he felt a bit strange, surprisingly, there was no pain, he was slowly becoming tired however. He thought about his introduction to the group earlier in that day.<p>

_Flashback_

Naruto was woken up by a swift knocking on their door, 5 minutes later, he emerged to see Pain, Konan and Itachi waiting for them, Naruto noticed Itachi was already wearing an Akatsuki cloak.

"Hey, when do I get one of those cloaks?" Naruto asked.

"When I deem you strong enough." Pain replied simply, "Now follow us, we're going to introduce you to the rest of the organization."

Naruto merely nodded before following the others down a staircase. They all stopped in front of a door before Pain pushed it open and entered. Naruto noticed 5 figures in front of them, seemingly involved in light conversation with each other, as they stepped forward; they stopped their conversations and turned to look at them.

"We have one new member and another promising recruit." Pain announced to the gathered individuals. "Itachi, you will be partnered with Kisame". Itachi and Kisame merely nodded.

"This here is Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto is the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, we're going to extract it shortly, we believe that because he possesses the same eyes as me, the Rinnegan, the Kyuubi has been suppressed, thus we can extract it from his body without killing him. After that has been performed, I want you all to train him in various elemental techniques; I will be training him in the use of the Rinnegan's abilities." Pain finished speaking.

Naruto, who was feeling rather uncomfortable merely stepped forward and bowed, causing Kisame to laugh out loud, "Haha, you don't have to be so formal kid," This comment caused Naruto to look up, grin and rub the back of his head sheepishly.

Kisame grinned before introducing himself, "I'm Hoshigaki Kisame, this sinister looking fellow to my right is Orochimaru," Orochimaru remained impassive towards Naruto, instead keeping his eyes focused on Itachi _'Uchiha Itachi, this is a perfect opportunity, I'd consider using Naruto-kun here for my next body, but if his eyes can suppress the Kyuubi, I stand no chance.'_ Orochimaru thought, ending with a grim expression on his face.

"Err, anyway, the guy standing next to him is Sasori, he's Orochimaru's partner, apparently they make a good team, but I've yet to see it." Kisame joked, earning a snort from Sasori and a glare from Orochimaru.

Kisame chuckled before continuing with his self-imposed introduction.

"This man here," he pointed to Kakuzu "his name is Kakuzu, you'd do well not to get on his bad side, or he'll most likely kill you, on the bright side though, he's probably the one who can teach you the most about the elements. There's one more of us, but I think he's out on an assignment at the moment, I'm sure you'll recognize him when you see him, his name is Zetsu." Kisame finished.

Naruto merely bowed once more, before Pain caught everyone's attention with a single hand seal. The genjustu surrounding the room was suddenly dispelled, revealing a large cavern, a grotesque statue in the centre of it; a blindfolded face and upper torso were coming out of the ground, an expression of pain across the face, whilst two hands sprouted on the sides, chains linking the wrists together.

Naruto gasped at the sight of it, before Pain spoke up, "Naruto, we're going to seal the Kyuubi now, if you would like to go and sit in the centre of that circle there," He pointed to a small circle on the floor, Naruto nodded and went to sit down.

The rest of the group shunshined up onto their designated fingers, "Let's begin the sealing" Pain told them, each of them forming the Ram seal.

Naruto suddenly felt very odd.

_Flashback End._

Naruto decided to give in to unconsciousness, leaving him lying on the ground with the red chakra flowing out of him.

**3 Days Later:**

"Konan, check him" Pain ordered. Konan shunshinned down from her finger, and landed next to Naruto.

Pressing her index and middle fingers against her neck, she looked up to Pain and nodded before saying "It worked; he's still alive, although he'll most likely need a lot of rest."

'_How the hell is he still alive? This is the work of the Shinigami and a seal of a Master; could it be because of some imperfection that allowed him to survive? We took a gamble and it somehow paid off, I can't believe it.' _Nagato thought, before regaining his composure.

"So be it." Pain said before shunshinning down next to Naruto, "Kisame, get down here and take Naruto to his room."

"Eh? What?" Kisame was startled by this sudden order, however judging by the look in his Leader's eyes, he was going to have to do it.

Shunshining down next to the boy, he picked him up and slung him over his shoulder.

Kisame merely kicked the door of Naruto's room open, and placed the boy down on his before leaving.

**2 Days Later:**

"Ughh" Naruto groaned as he slowly opened his eyes "Where am I? Oh that's right, The Kyuubi..." He said.

He heard his stomach rumble, "Man, I'm so hungry."

"GOOD MORNING!" Kisame shouted, not even bothering to knock or even open the door properly, he had in fact kicked the door so hard, it was barely hanging onto its hinges.

Naruto just looked oddly at him, he noticed this and smiled a toothy grin back at him, this always seemed to wipe any expression of his face he noted, most likely because of his jagged teeth.

"Leader-sama wants to see you, get dressed and be upstairs in 5 minutes" He said before leaving almost as quickly as he'd burst in the room. Naruto barely had time to nod in acknowledgement.

5 minutes later, Naruto was dressed, he had had been given new clothes, as his casual clothes would just wear away with training, or so he was told.

Naruto was given a mesh shirt to wear underneath a black jacket; the interior of the jacket was a dark red, much like the colour of the Akatsuki cloaks, minus the clouds. He also wore standard jounin trousers and ninja sandals.

He walked upstairs into a meeting area of sorts, only to see that Kakuzu, Sasori and Orochimaru were nowhere to be seen.

Pain was the first one to sense his presence and turned around to greet him. "Ah, Naruto, I trust you're feeling better?" He asked.

Naruto simply nodded, not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to himself. His stomach was practically screaming for attention.

"Good. We shall begin your training then. Come with me." Pain said, before swiftly turning towards the door and walking out.

Naruto and Pain had entered a huge library just off the side of the meeting room, "We're going to start on chakra control first, and I'll be teaching you the **Bunshin**, **Kage Bunshin**, **Henge** and **Kawarimi No Jutsu** first, after you've completed those, I would like to talk to you about your Rinnegan." Pain said. "It doesn't matter how long it takes, from 1 week to a year, I won't give you a moment to rest unless I see that you deserve it." He continued. Naruto nodded. "Now let's begin."

**6 Months Later:**

In the last 6 months, Naruto's chakra control had exceeded all expectations.

Naruto had mastered **Kage Bunshin**, **Henge **and **Kawarimi**, he couldn't perform **Bunshin **however, Pain put it down to having simply too much chakra. He said the Forbidden version was superior to it anyway.

"Naruto. Stop for the moment and come over here." Pain called out to him, they were currently outside while Naruto sat with 100 Kage Bunshins, each practicing chakra control. Pain had stated that he didn't need to work on **Henge** and **Kawarimi**, saying they'd be mastered to a level not many people can reach. **Kage Bunshin**, he'd explained that it would help speed up his training hugely, since every clone, when dispelled, will transmit everything it's learned back to the creator.

Naruto stood up and walked over to where Pain was standing. "I want to show you a technique, Itachi was describing to me what happened the night he found you. He said he felt himself being forced back, what did you feel and see?" Pain asked. Naruto thought about it for a moment before answering, "I don't know, I can't really remember, I felt like I was falling for a split second before I hit the ground and then everything around suddenly launched backwards."

Pain nodded. "Yes, that sounds familiar, like the first time I awoke my Rinnegan. I have named the technique you used." Naruto looked on excitedly. "It's called **Shinra Tensei (Divine Judgement)**, it's something only users of the Rinnegan can use, even the Sharingan cannot copy this technique. You can focus it into your hands and apply much more force to the technique, using it like this can easily shatter wood, bone and stone. It can also used on a much larger scale, you should never use that unless completely necessary, as it will shorten your lifespan." Naruto nodded, taking it all in. "There's one other drawback to the technique, once you've used it, it can't be used again for the next 5 seconds. I will demonstrate it now. Step back." Naruto did as he told and watched as Pain moved to stand in front of the closest building; he held out his arm and spoke "**Shinra Tensei**". Naruto's eyes widened as he watched a large hole appear in the side of building accompanied by a thunderous bang.

"Now you try it. Just hold out your arm, focus chakra to your eyes and the palm of your hand and release when you think it's strong enough, the more chakra you focus onto your palm, the stronger the technique will be. There's another thing I'd like to mention, you don't have to be looking at the target, just focus chakra to your eyes and palm and think about forcing something away." Pain explained.

Naruto nodded, before moving in front of the building. "You don't have to call out the name." Pain added. Naruto merely nodded once again. He stared forward at the wall, held out his arm focusing just enough chakra; he released the technique only for another hole to appear in the wall.

Pain looked on, impressed. The hole itself was only a bit smaller than the one he himself had made.

"Good, now you can't use **Kage Bunshin** to practice this technique so I suggest you forgo perfecting your chakra control, it's easily already low-Jounin level, so just focus on **Shinra Tensei**, until I see fit that you've advanced enough to move onto the next stage of your training." Pain said, getting a nod from Naruto before he shunshinned out of the area.

As soon as Pain had left, Naruto burst out into a wide grin.

**6 Months Later:**

Naruto had been training extremely hard for the past six months. He was constantly practicing **Shinra Tensei**, he'd almost perfected it according to Pain, however he wouldn't let him try the larger version.

Naruto had been decided to explore Amegakure in his rather limited free time. He'd discovered they had a fantastic ramen stand, not quite Ichiraku but still impressive, according to his standards anyway. He was also happy that none of the villagers ever glared at him or called him names, everywhere he looked there were kind smiles. He liked it here.

Today, Naruto was exploring the upper floor of the city, he'd found a blacksmith's and decided to take a look around. He entered the shop to find various weapons hanging on the walls, some of which he'd never seen before. '_What the hell is that? A scythe? What kind of ninja uses that?' _Naruto thought to himself. He was busy looking around when a stocky looking man appeared from the back.

"Ah good day, young sir! What may I interest you in?" He asked.

Naruto jumped when heard the man's loud voice and turned around to greet him.

'_His eyes are a little strange, must be a ninja.' _Katsuo thought.

"Uh, hi, my name's Naruto, I'm just looking around, do you have any Kunai or Shuriken?" Naruto asked.

"Ahaha, of course Naruto, you may call me Katsuo!" The blacksmith roared. "Here, I shall show you" He stepped out from behind the counter and walked over to the other side of the shop.

"I've not seen you around here before." Katsuo said.

"Ah, I've been here for over a year, but I've been training as a ninja so I've been busy." Naruto responded.

"Ahh, I see, well take a look around, if you need anything I'll be in the back." Katsuo said, walking off.

Naruto stood there for a moment, eyeing each piece of equipment equally. He eventually picked up a small custom kunai. He noticed it didn't have a finger grip at the end, it was just flat, the blade was also thinner than average kunai. He tossed it between his hands, measuring the weight. Happy with it, he decided to make a request of the owner.

"Katsuo-san!" He shouted. The large man appeared from the back, a large smile on his face. "Would you creating 40 of these for me? I don't know when I'll be back, but I really like them." Naruto pleaded.

"A custom order eh? I'm glad you like them, of course I'll hold them for you. Next time you come in, I'll have the order filled and I'll give you the price then as well." Katsuo told him. Naruto merely grinned before placing the kunai back on the shelf, and strolling out of the shop.

"EHH NARUTO, what's your last name?" Katsuo shouted after him, baffled by the boy's display.

"Oh well, I'm sure he'll be back, I'll just write 'Naruto' as the name for now, I doubt there's many called that anyway."

Meanwhile, Naruto was looking for somewhere to get some lunch. He passed by a noodle stand and decided he'd try these today.

He walked through the curtain and sat down at one of the stools placed in front of the counter. An elderly gentleman turned around and handed him a menu. Naruto took it from him and spent 5 minutes perusing it, having trouble choosing what type to eat, he decided on Kitsune Soba, getting a happy nod from the owner.

"Ah, that's one of my favourites." The man told him.

Naruto sat there for around 5 minutes, wondering what kind of training he'd do tomorrow, the thought excited him. The bowl of noodles was placed down in front of him. Naruto glanced down at it and eyed it hungrily; he snapped his chopsticks and dug in. The old man merely laughed as he watched Naruto struggle with the deep-fried tofu that floated in the broth.

Naruto eventually managed to finish his meal, paying the owner and leaving the stand. He decided to head back to the Complex, even though it was his day off, he figured it wouldn't hurt to train some more.

Naruto spent the rest of his day sparring with his clones and practicing his chakra control. At around 9:30 in the evening he dragged himself to bed.

He opened the door to his room and collapsed onto his bed, sleep taking him almost immediately.

Naruto had been woken by Konan in the morning. She waited outside the door for him to get dressed; he appeared about 2 minutes later and followed her down into the main meeting room.

Naruto walked into the room and noticed Pain, the chakra signature next to him however, he recognized, but just couldn't put a name to it.

"Naruto, come here." Pain beckoned him over. "You've been introduced to Orochimaru once before, I'm going to have him teach you various Earth and Wind element techniques." He said, Naruto just nodded.

"Well, Naruto-kun shall we begin?" Orochimaru asked him, a smirk placed on his lips. Naruto looked at him for a moment, before breaking out into a grin and saying "Yea!"

Naruto followed Orochimaru, outside into one of the various training grounds behind the complex. It was raining quite heavily as they stood in the centre of the training ground.

"Ok, Naruto-kun, the first Jutsu I'm going to teach will be **"Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)"**, the hand seals are Tiger – Ox – Dog – Rabbit – Snake, would you like to try it?" Orochimaru explained.

Naruto merely nodded, before flying through the hand seals, surprising Orochimaru at his speed, before shouting "**Fūton: Daitoppa"** and producing a huge blast of wind, carving a crater into the ground and slamming into the wall, causing a large crack to appear down it.

"That was very impressive, Naruto-kun, you might need to tone down the amount of chakra you put into the Jutsu however." Orochimaru told him.

Naruto looked at him, confused, "But I didn't put much chakra into that attack at all."

Orochimaru was, to say the least, shocked. '_This boy, who on earth is he?'_ He thought to himself. "Well, Naruto-kun, I'd like you to perfect that jutsu over the next few days, I shall then return and show you a defensive ninjutsu." Orochimaru then performed the Ram seal before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

'_Fancy idiot'_ Naruto thought. _'I may as well see what the technique is like when I imbue it with even more chakra.'_

A thunderous bang was heard, and Kisame being the only member in the complex quickly ran outside to see what it was. He wasn't that surprised to find an enormous crater with Naruto lying at the bottom, the training ground completely destroyed.

"Oi, Naruto!" Kisame shouted, Naruto merely shifted his eyes towards him, "Maybe you shouldn't use that technique much eh?" Naruto merely laughed, before standing up and climbing out of the crater. "I don't think there's much else I can do with that technique anymore, I'll just go and practice my chakra control" He told Kisame, before calmly walking back inside like nothing had happened.

Kisame turned to look at the crater before shrugging his shoulders and following Naruto inside.

When Orochimaru returned, he had been informed of what had happened after he left, and figured he wouldn't berate Naruto for not practicing the technique, considering the amount of damage it had done.

He found Naruto sitting on his bed, in a meditative position, so he decided to observe him for a little bit. He was radiating chakra, Orochimaru was fascinated.

Naruto felt the presence as soon as they had entered the room, he didn't know who it was as they were masking their chakra, and he knew they must be incredibly skilled if they can hide their chakra, even in front of his eyes. He decided not to wait to find out who it was, his eyes snapped open with his hand already held up, he called out "**Shinra Tensei**", only to hear a shout of "Shit!" and a loud crash. He looked around the room, noticing the large hole that was now in his wall. He looked to his right and saw who it had been. Orochimaru was standing there with a smirk on his face.

"Bravo, Naruto-kun, you've changed considerably over the course of this year, when you were first introduced to us, your guard was constantly down, and any one of us could have killed you in a second." He said, Naruto wasn't surprised at this at all. "But now you've started to train those eyes of yours, you're slowly becoming a worthy adversary. I look forward to the day you are officially introduced into Akatsuki." Orochimaru finished. Naruto just grinned.

"Your defence is already quite formidable, especially with that Shinra Tensei attack; you could most likely push away plenty of the larger Jutsus; however some of them won't be that simple, so I'm going to teach you a Jutsu that requires considerable chakra control, which I know you have. Come." Orochimaru stated as he walked out the door, Naruto followed him, sighing at the hole in his wall, knowing he was going to be tasked with fixing it up later.

They were in a different training ground this time, after Pain had made Kakuzu fill in the hole with an Earth jutsu. Naruto had stayed clear of Kakuzu ever since he'd found out.

"Ok, Naruto-kun, this is an Earth element defence ninjutsu, it's an incredibly versatile jutsu, I will show you an example, it's called "**Doton: Doryūkatsu (Earth Release: Earth Flow Divide)".** Orochimaru explained.

He ran through the seals incredibly quickly, much faster than Naruto had expected and slammed his hand into the ground, holding it there; Naruto noticed his fingers moving slightly. His mind was taken off this when a large clump of earth began rising up, before splitting in half and then into quarters, before Orochimaru released his hand from the ground and admired his handiwork.

Orochimaru smirked at Naruto's odd expression before explaining, "There are things called Dragon veins flowing underground, and you can manipulate them using that Jutsu, you pour your chakra into them, then utilising perfect chakra control, you can create chasms of any size, the formation of the ground is completely up to you. The seals are Rabbit – Boar – Rat – Horse – Tiger – Snake. Now show me."

Naruto performed the hand seals and called out **"Doton: Doryūkatsu"**, before slamming his hand on the ground, he channelled chakra into the veins, he was surprised he could feel them, _'It must have something to do with the Jutsu'_ He thought.

He suddenly lost control and the Jutsu failed, resulting in a large earthen pillar to rise out of the ground. He immediately cancelled the Jutsu and sighed. "Wow, you can't lose concentration or something like that happens eh?" He said, more to himself than Orochimaru.

Orochimaru just smirked, "Yes, you have to be careful, it's best used while you're in a group and need to defend more than one person at once, it can also be used to separate enemy teams apart and destroy their camps before you attack." Orochimaru explained. "I'll be back in a week and a half; I want you to have made some noticeable progress when I return." He then left.

Throughout the next week and a half, the training ground where Naruto had been training had to be remodelled several times, thanks to Naruto either losing control or funnelling too much chakra into the Jutsu.

The day Orochimaru returned, Naruto had prepared a question to ask him. "Hey Orochimaru," he turned towards the boy, who took it as a signal to continue, "Where do you keep going?" Orochimaru merely cracked a smile that sent a chill down Naruto's spine. "I've been busy." He said simply, clearly not in the mood for explaining.

'_Kukuku, soon my Kinjutsu will be ready and I'll have access to almost every jutsu in the world, I haven't seen Itachi in a while, but next time we meet, I'm sure it will be memorable.' _Orochimaru thought.

"Now Naruto-kun, I have a test for you, I'm going to summon 2 snakes, I want you to use the 2 Jutsu I have taught you and **Kage Bunshin** to force them to dismiss themselves." Orochimaru said, lifting up the sleeve on his left arm, before nipping his thumb and smearing the blood across the strange tattoo that covered his forearm.

"**Kuchiyose No Jutsu!"** He spoke, causing 2 snakes slightly larger than himself to puff into existence next to him.

"Kill him". He said simply, before shunshinning backwards to observe the battle.

Naruto formed the familiar hand seal and created 4 **Kage Bunshins**. He made 2 of them charge the snakes, while he had the last one cover him, in case one of the snakes got through. He quickly shot through some more hand seals before shouting "**Doton: Doryūkatsu**" and causing a large bank to appear but a few meters away from the snakes, they didn't notice however as they were engaging his first two **Kage Bunshins**.

The snakes were too busy fending off kunai strikes to notice the real Naruto jump onto the top of the bank, he launched into the air from the top of the bank, formed some hand seals and shouted "**Fūton: Daitoppa!**", the huge burst of air destroyed the **Kage Bunshins** and forced the snakes to the ground, shallow cuts could be seen all over their skin. As soon as Naruto landed, he pulled out two kunai and sprinted towards the snakes, ready to kill them.

Orochimaru decided enough was enough, so he manually dispelled the snakes.

'_This boy is far stronger than I give him credit for, his training with Leader-sama must have beaten some tactics into him, it's a shame I won't be able to take his body, he'd make a fine replacement. Kukuku, Itachi's will suit me fine however.' _Orochimaru thought.

Naruto walked over to Orochimaru, who congratulated him on his clever usage of **Kage Bunshin** to distract the enemy while he focused on the main offense. He handed him 2 scrolls before telling him, "We won't meet each other again, Naruto- kun, goodbye." He performed the Ram seal and disappeared in same way he had when they'd first met.

'_What was that all about? Oh well, I'd better check out these scrolls.'_ Naruto thought to himself before he unfurled the first one and read the name of the Jutsu.

**Scroll:**

**Fūton: Shinkūgyoku. (Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere)**

**This jutsu is ranked A-Class.**

**This is a short to mid range jutsu.**

**To perform, form the Dog seal, before taking a deep breath and exhale, you should feel the balls of chakra form inside your mouth; exhale them rapidly for the best results. The amount of chakra you put into each ball will affect how much physical damage they do.**

**A small amount of chakra will merely hit the target, most likely bruise them but do nothing more. **

**A large amount however can penetrate the skin like a thrown kunai, therefore proving fatal if aimed at the right areas.**

**End Scroll.**

'_Heh, this sounds like a promising Jutsu, it looks a bit troublesome to use though, the exhaling part sounds like it will take some getting used to. I'll keep that one for later. I'll check the other scroll.' _Naruto thought.

He rolled the first scroll back up and placed into a side pocket of his jacket. He carefully untied the small string keeping the next scroll rolled up, before it fully unfurled in his lap. He picked it up and began to read:

**Scroll:**

**Fūton: Shinkūha. (Wind Release: Vacuum Wave)**

**This jutsu is ranked A-Class.**

**This is a short to mid range jutsu.**

**To perform, form the Dog seal, before taking a deep breath, spinning around while you exhale, the chakra will form a blade sharp enough to cut a person in half if enough force is applied. **

**The longer you spin for, the wider the arc, thus reducing the attack power of the jutsu.**

End Scroll.

'_This one looks a little easier to perform than the first; I'll begin practicing them tomorrow.' _Naruto thought, smiling as he made his way back to his room, happy that he'd got more techniques to learn.

**The Next Day:**

When Naruto woke up the next day, he decided he wasn't going to use **Kage Bunshin** to learn these new Wind Jutsu. They seemed far too dangerous to have even 5 clones try it. He thought about which one to try first, he eventually decided on **Fūton: Shinkūha**, as it seemed easier to use than **Fūton: Shinkūgyoku.**

He was heading downstairs when Konan caught him.

"Naruto, Pain has suggested I test you today, follow me please." She told him.

He merely nodded and followed her down to one of the training grounds. They stepped into the centre, Naruto noticed that Konan formed a Paper Clone, before the real one stepped back.

"Naruto, I want you to defeat my Paper Clone. It will be a good training exercise, and grant you some much needed battle experienced." Konan told him.

Naruto stood there for a moment, thinking over what Konan had told him.

"Alright, let's do it." Naruto said.

Konan's clone merely nodded before several pieces of paper were torn from her body and flew at Naruto.

"**Kami Shuriken (Paper Shuriken)**" The clone called out.

Naruto barely had time to react, just barely diving out the way, he glanced at the Paper shuriken, noticing how deeply they were embedded into the ground.

'_What? It's just paper, but they can do that much damage?' _Naruto thought, standing up, quickly forming three **Kage Bunshin**, ordering them to charge at Konan.

Konan noticed this, she also noticed the real Naruto staying back.

"**Suiton: Suihachi (Water Release: Water Wave Palm)**" She called out, aiming a steady jet of water from her palm, dispersing the three clones in front of her. The smoke briefly obscured her view, Naruto used this to his advantage and launched through it expecting his blow to connect. He merely fell out of the smoke and crashed into the ground. Looking up, he glanced around and saw that the clone was standing behind him now.

He stood up quickly, running at the clone with a kunai drawn, he swung at her in a wide arc, only for her to catch his arm, look at his face for a moment before punching him in the face. As she did so, she let go of his arm, and jumped backwards.

'_Shit!' _Naruto thought standing back up once again, rubbing his sore cheek. '_Where is she now?'_

He looked around and caught sight of her; she was merely standing there anticipating his next attack.

He decided to try Ninjutsu against her; he quickly formed two more **Kage Bunshin** and ordered them to distract her.

He watched as Konan engaged the two clones in close combat and quickly ran through some hand seals. He jumped forwards as he finished the final one and called out "**Fūton: Daitoppa**", the force of the jutsu forcing the **Kage Bunshins **to disperse.

Konan's clone had been expecting this Jutsu, just not as powerful as it was. The Paper Clone dispersed under the immense pressure of the wind, the various cuts appearing on the body not helping.

Naruto landed on his feet, taking several deep breaths. He noticed Konan walk out from the Complex and over to him.

"Well done Naruto, however you are far too reckless. You're lucky it was only a spar; my clone could have killed at any time, particularly when you jumped through the smoke of your **Kage Bunshins**. You could have also been killed when you charged me with your kunai. You need to work on other things than just your Ninjutsu. I have several books about tactics and how to act during a heated battle. I shall bring them to your room later this evening." Konan told him.

Naruto merely nodded, before thanking her for the books and leaving to go and get some lunch.

Konan was left there, "You can come out you know" She said. "Maybe you should introduce yourself to him."

"No." **"No."** Zetsu replied. "He'd either bully me for looking strange, or run away scared." He joked.

"You're worried about being bullied by a 10 year old? Oh, how the mighty have fallen" Konan replied sarcastically. "Also he won't run away, he's are far stronger than he lets on."

"Heh, you're telling me, he seems to have unprecedented potential, it's no wonder Pain himself is training him." Zetsu said. Konan just nodded. **"He'll be quite formidable when he's older" **Zetsu's darker half commented. Konan nodded once again before walking off.

Naruto had gotten some Dango for lunch; he enjoyed testing the various flavours. He wasn't sure which his favourite was yet, so he decided to have a stick of each.

He'd returned to the training ground, he was currently sitting down studying the scrolls that Orochimaru had given him. He told himself he'd be fine learning **Fūton: Shinkūha **without any help, but realised he would need help getting to grips with **Fūton: Shinkūgyoku. **He decided to ask Itachi about it, knowing the man was currently in the compound. He ran inside and found him poring over a scroll in the meeting room. Naruto walked over to him and asked him how he'd go about performing the Jutsu. Itachi told him it'd be wise to exhale them slowly, but forcefully to begin with, then as he became better with the Jutsu, he could increase the speed he exhaled them at.

He nodded along as he listened, mentally slapping himself for not thinking of that himself. He added that it would require immense concentration to spit them in such quick succession. He knew now that he'd have to study those books Konan had mentioned thoroughly, realising just how far he still has to go.

Naruto knew he wasn't that advanced in ninjutsu techniques yet, he figured he could ask the other members to help him in that area, and perhaps even some Taijutsu training.

**One Year Later:**

Naruto had decided to keep a journal of every Jutsu he had learnt, for quick reference if needed. He also gave a quick explanation.

**Journal:**

Katon:

**Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique)**

A Jutsu mostly used for distraction, you launch several small balls of fire at the target. Itachi told me you could set various traps using the Jutsu, but then said I'd have to figure out how on my own.

The hand seals are: Rat - Tiger - Dog - Ox - Rabbit – Tiger.

**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)**

You have to take a deep breath, and gather chakra in your chest, then exhale. I've watched Itachi do it, and he seems to make a ring around with his mouth with his index finger and thumb before spewing out the Fireball. He told me it's not necessary to perform the jutsu, just force of habit.

The hand seals are: Horse - Snake - Ram - Monkey - Boar - Horse – Tiger.

**Katon: Karyū Endan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Missile)**

This is an offensive jutsu; it's along the same lines as **Gōkakyū no Jutsu**. You take a deep breath, and gather chakra in your lungs, before exhaling, however instead of breathing it all out at once like **Gōkakyū no Jutsu**, you breathe it out in a steady stream of fire. Itachi told me he'd seen Jii-san, back in Konoha, perform it once, he said it was so ferocious, the flame seemed be white.

The hand seals are: Ram – Horse – Snake – Dragon – Ox – Tiger.

Fūton:

**Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)**

This is an offensive Jutsu; it creates a large blast of wind from where you're standing when you finish the hand seals. It can be devastating if enough chakra is put into the technique.

The hand seals are: Tiger – Ox – Dog – Rabbit – Snake.

**Fūton: Shinkūha (Wind Release: Vacuum Wave)**

After finishing the hand seals, you take a deep breath, and spin your body whilst exhaling. Doing this releases a large blade of wind, capable of cutting through almost anything. I should know, I've accidentally destroyed many things with this Jutsu.

The hand seals are: Rat – Serpent – Horse – Dog.

**Fūton: Shinkūgyoku (Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere)**

You only need one hand seal for this Jutsu, which is the Dog seal. Afterwards you take a deep breath, and exhale rapidly, spitting out balls of wind. The more chakra infused into the attack, the more damage they can do. The most I've ever seen is for one to go through at least 2 walls before the Jutsu ended.

Raiton:

**Raiton: Jibashi (Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder)**

After performing the hand seals, a wave of electricity will appear from the user's hands. This Jutsu can vary in power to weakly shocking the target or strong enough to carve through solid rock.

The hand seals are: Boar – Ram – Snake – Horse – Dragon.

**Raiton Kage Bunshin (Lightning Release Shadow Clone)**

Works the same way as a **Kage Bunshin**, it can perform Jutsu and interact with the environment. If the Clone is injured, it will disperse back into its lightning state, electrocuting whatever it was touching at the time.

Doton:

**Doton: Doryūkatsu (Earth Release: Earth Flow Divide)**

Orochimaru told me of these things called Dragon Veins underneath the ground, which, using this jutsu, can be manipulated to gain an edge over the enemy.

The hand seals are: Rabbit – Boar – Rat – Horse – Tiger – Snake.

**Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Release: Earth Style Wall)**

This is a defensive Jutsu. After performing the hand seals, you spit mud from your mouth, which will solidify into a shield, to be used against attacks.

The hand seals are complicated, but are as follows: Tiger with left - Ox with right - adjust Ox above Tiger.

Suiton:

**Suiton: Suihachi (Water Release: Hand of Waves)**

This Jutsu will produce a fairly powerful jet of water from the palm of your hand.

The hand seals are: Snake – Horse – Rat.

**Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique)**

Kisame taught me this Jutsu to be used the opponent is weakened and can't currently move or defend, as there are forty-four hand seals.

The hand seals are: Ox - Monkey - Hare - Rat - Boar - Rooster - Ox - Horse - Rooster - Rat - Tiger - Dog - Tiger - Snake - Ox - Sheep - Snake - Boar - Sheep - Rat - Monkey - Rooster - Dragon - Rooster - Ox - Horse - Sheep - Tiger - Snake - Boar - Rat - Monkey - Hare - Boar - Dragon - Sheep - Rat - Ox - Monkey - Rooster - Boar - Rat - Snake – Rooster.

**End of Journal.**

In the past year, Naruto had found out Orochimaru had tried to attack Itachi, and somehow take his body, Itachi had simply used a genjutsu on him before slicing his hand off, thus disrupting the Jutsu. He'd also gone and retrieved his order of custom Kunai from Katsuo. It had taken him a little while to get used to the weight, but he noticed they seem to be slightly faster and could be used with normal kunai to perhaps catch the enemy off guard

It was also during this year, he had met Zetsu. To Zetsu's satisfaction he didn't seem bothered by his appearance, Naruto was, in fact, in awe of him, he never told him anything about himself, just a quick introduction. To throw him off his trail, he complimented Naruto's skills. Being 11 years old, his ego swiftly increased. Although he was brought crashing back to Earth the moment he mentioned anyone in Akatsuki could defeat him easily. He left abruptly after that, leaving him to wallow in self-pity. Naruto had decided that lunch would soon cheer him up.

Back to the present; Naruto was currently sitting on his bed, reading a book Konan had given him. It was about the use of tactics in battle, he'd learnt a lot from reading these books; distractions, making full use of teammates if you have them, taunts to make the opponent angry thus weakening their resolve, using the environment to your advantage. He'd absorbed it like a sponge, and was now not as cocky or overly dramatic as he had been; in fact he seemed more at peace, and a lot calmer.

There was a knock on his door. He looked up before uttering "Come in."

Konan stepped into the room, and noticed the piles of books stacked in front of his bed. She let a small smile grace her lips, before saying "Naruto-san, Leader-sama would like to see you in the main meeting room."

Naruto looked up from his book, before nodding and smiling kindly at Konan.

"Thank you Konan, I'm on my way." He said as he got off the bed and put his sandals on, before stepping out of the room, and heading in the opposite direction of Konan.

He entered the meeting room to find Pain and Kakuzu; he'd gotten some training, if you could call it that, from him during the last year. He'd taught him some Raiton jutsu; _'I guess it helps having weird beasts on your back do all the work for you.' _Naruto thought, before walking over.

"Naruto, you already know Kakuzu." Kakuzu merely nodded, acknowledging the boy's presence. "You're going with him to hunt down an A-Class missing Nin." Pain told him. Naruto didn't react, processing this new information. "He's been raiding small villages with a bandit gang; his body will fetch a decent price, as you know we need the money. It will also give you much needed battle experience."

"Yea, but I don't know why we need the money." Naruto added. Receiving a blank look from Pain. "All will be revealed in due time, for now, just do as I tell you." Pain commanded with a subtle undertone of authority.

Naruto merely nodded, not wanting to argue. He followed Kakuzu out of the compound.

"We're going to a small village in near the border of Ame no Kuni; I've heard from various contacts that the bandit gang our target is said to be involved with have been attacking travellers near there." Kakuzu spoke, Naruto just nodded along.

"Alright, how long will the journey be?" Naruto asked.

"We'll be moving at my pace, so no more than a day." Kakuzu replied, before breaking out in a run. Naruto had no trouble keeping up, but to travellers, if they had good eyes they would have been able to catch a brief glimpse of black, before it flew past.

8 hours had passed since Naruto and Kakuzu had left Amegakure, they had stopped at a Dango stand for a bit of rest and something to eat. It was all Naruto's idea, much to Kakuzu's chagrin. He said he could just take a soldier pill, but Naruto had insisted.

They soon entered Kohaku Village. It was a small village; Naruto noticed that, although it wasn't that late in the day, 4:30 to be precise, everyone was already inside.

"There was nothing that said anything about the bandits entering the village. Why is everyone inside?" Kakuzu questioned, not really expecting an answer.

"Maybe it's our presence." Naruto said.

"No, no-one knew we were coming. Let's see if we can find someone." Kakuzu said, before he walked off.

They found a small tavern and stepped inside, noticing there was no-one in here.

"Ah sorry gentlemen, I was just closing up, I'm afraid I can't serve you." The Bartender told them as he swept the floor.

"I don't care about that." Kakuzu told him coldly. "Where is the bandit gang that has said to have been around this area?"

"Eh? You can't be thinking about going after them?" The Bartender practically screamed.

"I didn't ask for your concern, tell me where they are." Kakuzu responded, a certain edge in his tone that sent a chill down Naruto's spine.

'_Oh crap, I need to get out of here, if he gets angry, he'll kill anyone close by, regardless of who they are.' _Naruto thought to himself.

"Forgive me, Shinobi-san, they are about 30 minutes to the east of here, there's about 7 of them. 6 of them seem like normal raiders, but their leader is pretty ferocious, I'd be careful of him." The Bartender said, before bowing quickly and retreating into the room behind the counter.

"Let's go." Kakuzu said, walking out the door and heading in the direction the Bartender had pointed them in.

They had quickly reached the entrance of the bandit camp, and decided to forgo subtlety.

"**Doton: Doryūkatsu**" Naruto shouted out, causing a pillar to shoot out of the ground in the middle of the camp. 6 men soon came out of their tents, screaming various obscenities. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?" was the one Naruto heard most before all eyes turned to him and Kakuzu.

"You take care of this trash. I'm going for the leader; I can sense him in that tent there." Kakuzu pointed before shunshinning the short distance.

One of the bandits charged at him, trying to catch him off guard, only for him to turn around, his hand seemingly launching from his wrist, catching the man by the neck. Fear flashed in the man's eyes before a quick movement of the wrist snapped his neck. He threw the body to the side, before entering the tent, only to fly out backwards a moment later.

While the bandits were distracted with Kakuzu's savage attack, Naruto had already begun forming hand seals, preparing his next Jutsu.

"**Raiton: Jibashi**" He shouted, aiming for the nearest bandit, enough chakra in the attack to shock him into unconsciousness.

"A-Argh!" He managed to get out before collapsing on the floor.

Naruto smirked as he noticed the other 4 charge at him, swords drawn; he pulled out a kunai before racing toward them.

"Surround him, he'll be easier to –" The bandit was interrupted as Naruto sent him flying upwards with a thunderous uppercut, he landed on the back of his neck and slumped to the ground. Naruto had turned and thrown the kunai at the nearest bandit. He barely dodged it.

"Shit, I didn't think they'd send ninjas!" One of them shouted.

"What the hell is wrong with his eyes?" Another shouted.

"Who gives a shit, it's 3 on 1, he's just a kid, and we have the advantage!" The last said. Naruto noticed he more experienced than the other two.

Naruto had raced towards the bandit he'd thrown the kunai at; the bandit noticed him and swung his sword wildly.

Naruto quickly dived forward, underneath the sword swipe. He collided with the man's shins, knocking them both to the ground. He quickly regained his composure and punched the fallen bandit in the face, incapacitating him.

He stood up and quickly performed 3 hand seals before holding his hand out and speaking "**Suiton: Suihachi**", a jet of water bursting from his palm, hitting one of the bandits square in the chest, launching him backwards, clearly winded.

"You're far stronger than I expected. A mere boy able to take down 4 bandits" The last bandit told said to him. This man was the more experienced of the 6.

'_He seems strong, I'll have to be careful' _Naruto thought.

The man suddenly rushed forward, swinging wildly, smirking all the while.

'_Ugh, I haven't trained enough with Kisame to see through the sword swipes, I've got no choice, I'll have to use it.' _Naruto thought.

Naruto quickly jumped back and held out his arm.

"**Shinra Tensei!**" He called out. The bandit felt like someone had punched him in the guy before he found himself being launched backwards; he crashed into one of the various tents littering the area.

'_What the fuck was that? Kuh! It feels like a few of my ribs are broken' _The bandit thought, coughing up blood whilst gently tracing his chest, trying to locate the broken ribs.

Naruto had taken advantage of the situation and began running towards the injured bandit, the man noticed him at the last second, before a ferocious punch knocked him out.

Naruto stood up straight, shaking his wrist. "Man! That last punch hurt." He complained.

He glanced over to where Kakuzu had been fighting, and noticed the man strolling towards him, a corpse draped over his shoulder.

"Let's go." He said simply.

"WHAT? We've got to carry that body all the way back to Amegakure?" Naruto called out.

Kakuzu merely glared at him. "No, you imbecile, we're going to drop it off at a nearby Black market exchange point, and collect the bounty."

Naruto frowned. "HEY! We're not done yet!" They both turned around to see 3 of the 6 bandits Naruto had fought. One was holding his face, the other his ribs, and the last was furiously rubbing the back of his neck.

"You didn't kill them?" Kakuzu asked, anger clearly present in his voice.

Naruto merely shook his head.

"Do it now." He commanded.

"What?" Naruto questioned, clearly shocked by the demand.

"I said kill them, they are threat to us. You wanted to become a Shinobi, this is part of it, now kill them. I know you have a technique that can take them all out at once. Do it, they are a waste of time anyway." Kakuzu said as he continued walking.

Meanwhile Naruto was struggling with an inner conflict. _'They are a threat to me? What the hell is that supposed to mean? I've already defeated them, is that not enough? Is this what being a ninja is all about? Killing people to survive? But if I don't act, they'll kill me here and now! What the hell am I supposed to do?' _Naruto thought to himself. He looked up only to be greeted by the kunai he'd thrown earlier. It struck him in his thigh.

"You overconfident little shit! We're not going down that easily!" One of them shouted.

Naruto glared at the bandits hobbling towards him; he could see their comrades stirring in the background. He yanked the kunai out of his thigh, wincing in pain.

"You brought this on yourselves." Naruto stated simply.

He performed the necessary hand seals before calling out "**Fūton: Daitoppa**".

He watched as the enormous blast of wind hit the bandits full-on, small cuts appearing on their skin before they were blasted backwards.

Kakuzu had stopped to survey the carnage, and watched as Naruto went to inspect his handiwork.

There were 6 corpses strewn about the area, some had deep lacerations in their flesh, others had badly broken limbs.

Naruto took it all in, knowing a lot more of this was to come.

He simply turned away from the scene, before walking forwards a few steps and vomiting violently.

'_Heh, I've never seen anyone react any differently to their first kill, why are they always sick?' _Kakuzu thought to himself. He had decided to wait for Naruto to catch up.

The trips to the Exchange Point and back to Amegakure were silent. Kakuzu didn't care.

They entered Pain's complex, before Naruto asked. "Do you mind reporting to Pain? I'm going to my room."

Kakuzu glared at the boy, before nodding, watching Naruto walk off slowly.

**With Pain and Kakuzu:**

"I see, well, that's to be expected, it's his first time killing someone." Pain said, after listening to Kakuzu's report.

"Yes, although he seems to have taken it better than most people, killing 6 people at once isn't as simple as one." Kakuzu added. "It would have crushed any other person his age."

Pain merely nodded, before turning to face him.

"Have you counted the money?" He asked.

"It's all there." Kakuzu said, handing the briefcase over and walking out.

**With Naruto:**

'_Pain said Kisame arriving tomorrow to give me some training. That gives me some time to think about what I did today.' _Naruto thought.

'_Those guys were going to kill me. I know that. Does that make me killing them okay though? Is it self-defence? Kakuzu said this is what being a ninja is. Killing people. No matter where you're brought up, if you want to be a ninja, you have to kill people. What about..'_

A knocking on the door knocked Naruto out of his thoughts.

"Come in." He spoke, he looked up to see Konan enter and stand in the doorway.

"I heard Pain and Kakuzu talking, you don't seem right." She said.

He gave her a sad smile. "I'm that easy to read huh?" He asked, his eyes studying the floor.

"Yes" She told him. "Let me explain something to you" She said.

He contemplated this for a moment, before looking up at her, and nodding, inviting her to take a seat on the chair by his desk.

She sat down and crossed her legs, waiting for him to speak.

"I don't know if what I did earlier was okay. I know those men were going to kill me, but that doesn't make me any happier or feel better about killing them." He said.

She couldn't tell his emotions, his eyes helped him hide them.

She continued staring at him; he noticed her face softened slightly before she began speaking.

"Naruto, you know as well as me, that killing innocent people is not okay." She said.

His eyes widened before he moved his gaze from her to the floor.

"However, if you hadn't killed them, they'd have definitely killed you, there's no doubt about that." She continued, his eyes were still on the floor. "They were bandits, scum; they'd killed innocent people before. Do you think they thought about it like you are? They deserved what you did to them." She said firmly, remembering what had happened to her family during the Second Great Ninja War.

"We're ninjas Naruto; we are sometimes paid to kill people, most of them deserve it anyway. I know there's not much I can say to make you feel any better. Don't destroy yourself over something that needed to happen." She finished.

She stood up and walked towards the door, opening it; she turned to him and gave him a quick nod before exiting the room.

Naruto sat on his bed, in stunned silence.

'_She – she's right...Those men needed to die, they were bandits. I suppose I should be thankful that I had to kill scum instead of someone honourable. It's something that needed to happen.' _ He reassured himself, before standing up, opening his window and sticking his head out. He took a deep breath, before glancing across the village.

'_I need to think more about this, I'm sure I'll have to kill a few more people yet.' _Naruto thought, walking away from the window, leaving it open.

He plopped himself down on his bed and lay down.

'_Will I be able to handle it?'_ He thought to himself before dozing off.

**A year later:**

Naruto had spent the past year training and honing the Jutsus he currently knew.

He'd also been training with Kisame:

"COME ON, YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT!" Kisame roared, swinging at Naruto violently.

Naruto just managed to jump over the slice, before landing and rolling back immediately. He quickly stood up and shot through a few hand seals. Kisame noticed this and held **Samehada** up to defend himself from the attack he knew was coming.

"**Raiton: Jibashi!**" Naruto shouted, holding out his hands, and aiming towards Kisame.

A bolt of lightning shot out of his palm and struck **Samehada**. Kisame merely looked at Naruto before swinging his sword around a few times, as if to get rid of any excess electricity coursing through it.

"Oh come on, Naruto, this IS PATHETIC!" He said before launching towards Naruto,** Samehada** was held in his left hand, he punched Naruto hard in the stomach with his right, sending the 12 year old careening backwards along the ground.

Naruto stood up, and spat blood, before pulling out a kunai with his left hand and charging at Kisame. He raced towards him, forming a **Kage Bunshin**, using it a stepping stone, he launched into the air, throwing the Kunai at Kisame, to distract him. It didn't work, the kunai struck Kisame in the thigh, he seemed to ignore it and kept his eyes on Naruto, who was currently flying towards him.

Naruto had just finished sealing, he took a deep breath before firing several large balls of wind at Kisame.

'_Shit, I wasn't expecting that kind of attack.' _Kisame thought.

One of the balls struck Kisame in the stomach, forcing him to take a step back, and then another and another.

Naruto didn't let this advantage go to waste, he quickly began sealing and called out "**Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu**".

Kisame, who was just regaining his footing after the wind assault looked up to see several balls of fire this time, flying towards him, he formed some hand seals, before calling out "**Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu**".

Naruto, who was using the small fireballs as cover so he could move closer to Kisame without giving away his presence, was not expecting this Jutsu.

As soon as the Water Shark struck his fireballs, he dived through the steam with his arm held out in front of him and called out "**Shinra Tensei!**"

The full force of a medium-power **Shinra Tensei** struck Kisame dead on, launching him backwards, causing him to slam into the wall of the training ground.

Naruto rolled forward, and backed away from the wall immediately, expecting some kind of attack to fly through the dust that been kicked up. When nothing happened he relaxed, only to hear "You fool" and a shout of "**Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu**".

He turned around to see a large Shark made of water flying at him, it struck him dead on, launching him backwards. He lay on the ground before coughing a bit and cursing "Shit." He stood up and looked up to see Kisame, smirking and strolling towards him with **Samehada** resting on his shoulder.

"Not bad, kid." He said, before sitting on a small rock that was placed in the training ground.

Naruto just stood there, rubbing his chest where the Shark missile had struck him.

"I'm impressed Naruto." Pain said as he strolled outside, he'd been observing the battle.

"Kisame, I'd like you to teach Naruto that **Suiton** Jutsu you just used." Pain continued. "Naruto, how many elemental Jutsu do you know now?" He asked.

Naruto thought for a moment before answering.

"I know 6 **Katon**, 6 **Futon**, 3 **Raiton**, 4 **Doton** and 5 **Suiton**, if you include the one Kisame's going to teach me." Naruto replied.

Pain merely nodded. "Very well, today's training is finished. Kisame, I want you to show Naruto that technique tomorrow; you can teach him the basics. His eyes and natural skill will do the rest." He finished before walking out.

Naruto merely ran back inside, only stopping to nod when he heard Kisame shout: "Be here at 7 in the morning!"

In his room, he sat at his desk and pulled out his Technique Journal:

**Journal:**

**Katon: Gōenkyū (Fire Release: Roaring Flame Sphere)**

Itachi told me this technique is a much larger and more destructive version of **Gōkakyū no Jutsu **and only to be used in extreme circumstances.

The hand seals are the same as **Gōkakyū no Jutsu**, you just have to force a lot more chakra into the technique.

**Katon: Zukokku (Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work)**

You spit out a small fireball, which is just condensed fire chakra, as soon as it hits a surface it will erupt into a giant firestorm, causing widespread destruction to the area.

**Fūton: Reppūshō (Wind Release: Violent Wind Palm)**

This is a simple technique that launches a concentrated gust of wind at the opponent; it can also be used to increase the speed and damage of thrown objects. Pain taught me this one, surprisingly.

You just clap your hands together before calling the technique out and exhaling.

**Fūton: Kami Oroshi (Wind Release: Godly Wind from the Mountains)**

This Jutsu creates a large vortex of wind that you can launch at the target.

There is only one hand seal: Tiger.

**Raiton: Ikazuchi Hakai **

The user places his hands to the ground after converting their chakra in to lightning. The user then sends an enormous bolt of electricity that cuts through the ground in the direction of the target. The shape of the bolt is a triangular with the base in the direction of the user and the tip headed towards the target. It causes devastating destruction on its way and generates enough heat and power to destroy whatever it comes into contact with.

The hand seals are: Ox – Rabbit – Ram – Dog – Monkey.

**Doton: Yomi Numa (Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld)**

This Jutsu creates a swamp beneath the target, if it is made deep enough it will kill the target. The larger you want the swamp to be, the more chakra you force into the Jutsu.

The hand seals are: Boar – Tiger.

**Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu (Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique)**

This Jutsu forms a strong pillar of water to attack the opponent, due to the force of the water; the target will be fully enveloped and dragged away. It is mostly used when you have someone who can cover you.

The hand seals are: Tiger - Ox - Monkey - Rabbit - Ram - Boar - Ox - Horse - Monkey - Tiger - Dog - Tiger - Snake - Tiger - Ox - Monkey - Rabbit – Bird.

**Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Shark Missile Technique)**

This Jutsu forces water to attack the opponent in the form of a shark, I've been on the receiving end and can vouch for the amount of pain and damage it can cause.

The hand seals: Tiger – Ox – Dragon – Rabbit – Bird – Dragon – Ram.

**Suiton: Bakusui Shōha (Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave)**

After spitting out a great volume of water from your mouth, the enemy is swallowed up by this advancing surge and crushed. The user can ride the wave, allowing them to move at high speed, and attack the enemy, now swept off their feet, without fear of counter-attacks, the amount of water created is proportional to the amount of chakra used. The left over water can be used for additional water release Jutsu.

**End of Journal.**

After Naruto had finished adding his latest Jutsu to his Journal, he turned around and collapsed onto his bed. He began thinking about what was going on in Konoha.

'_Heh, I wonder if they've given up the search yet, Jiraiya is probably still looking, I guess Jii-san would be as well, but the council have probably told everyone I'm dead. There's something else to celebrate on the 10__th__ I guess. But one day show them what they missed out on!' _Naruto thought to himself, a grin plastered on his face.

**The Next Morning:**

Naruto awoke at 6 in the morning; he glanced out of his window and noticed villagers already stirring. He liked the way they treated him. He smiled to himself, before stepping into the bathroom to get ready for the day's training.

He went down into one of the various kitchens in the complex, only to find Itachi there, sitting at the table.

"Naruto." Itachi acknowledged. "How is your training coming along?" He asked.

Naruto merely nodded, "I think it's coming along well, Kisame's going to teach me another Jutsu today, and I've been experimenting with my eyes. Pain told me that although I can see normally, if I focus a little bit of chakra to my eyes, I can see chakra. I must have done it subconsciously when you asked me that first time, with the barrier." He finished.

Itachi merely nodded. "I thought so, even though it's constantly active, you can see through your eyes normally. It's not like the Byakugan or Sharingan which can be turned off at will, but when they are activated, they change your vision entirely, quite handy really. I'm sure they must drain chakra, but considering you have so much, I presume it hardly scratches the surface. Considering it's always active, you have to abandon subtlety or stealth since it's easily recognizable. But the ability to master all 6 Chakra elements and the various other techniques that come with it makes it seem like that disadvantage doesn't even exist." Itachi finished.

"Pain mentioned the Sharingan once when he was teaching me **Shinra Tensei**; he said it wouldn't be able to copy it. What did he mean?" Naruto asked him.

"Ah, Leader-sama is right, that kind of Jutsu is restricted to those who wield the Rinnegan. I'm sure there are more Jutsus like it; I couldn't copy any of them. I have no idea how they work, I presume it's something like a Kekkei Genkai. An extremely complicated one though." Itachi answered.

"Kekkei Genkai? I read about them in one of the scrolls in the library, it's something that's restricted to a certain clan or person right?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, most Kekkei Genkai are actually 2 Elemental Natures mixed together, I only know of 2 of those, which are; **Mokuton Jutsu **and **Hyoton Jutsu**. There's also Doujutsu, such as Rinnegan, Sharingan and Byakugan." Itachi told him.

'_There's so much I don't know, damn it!'_ Naruto berated himself mentally.

He glanced at the clock on wall, "Shit! I'm supposed to meet Kisame at 7, can we talk later or are you going somewhere?" He asked Itachi.

"I'll be here for the rest of the day; I'm sure the Jutsu training won't take too long, I have something I want to talk to you about anyway." Itachi said.

Naruto nodded, before grabbing an apple and sprinting out the door.

Naruto reached the training ground at 7:05, only to find that Kisame was nowhere to seen. He strolled up to the rock that Kisame was sitting on yesterday, only for the ground to break apart, Kisame burst out and grasped Naruto by his collar, easily lifting him off the ground.

"Where were you?" He asked simply.

"Kuh..I was talking to Itachi." Naruto struggled to get out.

"Huh, I see." Kisame said, finally dropping Naruto, the boy landed on his feet and jumped back, dusting himself off.

"What the hell was that for?" Naruto shouted.

"You were late, I needed to discipline you." Kisame answered, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Alright, I'll explain the Jutsu to you." Kisame said. Naruto merely nodded before he continued.

"After you've formed the hand seals, if you've honed the **Suiton** element to an extremely high level, you'll be able to just form the shark and launch it at the target. If not it'll be like **Daibakufu no Jutsu **and **Suiryūdan no Jutsu**, which means there has to be a reasonable amount of water nearby. Now, the hand seals are: Tiger – Ox – Dragon – Rabbit – Bird – Dragon – Ram. Before that though, come over here and Shinra Tensei this part of the ground for me." He said, pointing to a part of the ground.

Naruto just shrugged before strolling over and blasting a small crater into the ground.

Kisame smirked before forming a few hand seals and spewing out enough water to fill the crater.

"Right, after you've formed the hand seals, just call out the name and the Jutsu will attack whatever you're looking it, once it's launched however, you can't control it. That's a big disadvantage, so it's best used when the target is distracted or can't move, like when I got you yesterday, you lowered your guard and look where that got you." Kisame said.

Naruto glared at the man.

"Now show me the Jutsu." He commanded.

Naruto went through the hand seals, before calling out "**Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu**" and keeping his eyes on the wall in front of him.

A large Shark comprised off water rose out of the crater and sped towards the spot Naruto was looking at. It crashed into the wall, causing small cracks to appear where it had hit.

Kisame whistled before telling Naruto, "Nice work, I want you to try to make it smaller and more compressed, it should be a little bit faster that way, making the main disadvantage of the Jutsu not as prominent."

Naruto nodded before trying once again, this time the Shark didn't do as much wide spread damage, it did however impact further into the wall.

'_This kid is ridiculous, I just taught him that Jutsu, he's had two tries and both have been reasonable. Leader-sama did mention something about his eyes. Eyes and natural talent eh? I'll ask Itachi if he knows what he meant by that. He seems to know a lot about Doujutsu.' _Kisame thought.

"Alright Naruto, practice the Jutsu for however long you want, I've got some matters to take care of." Kisame said, strolling away into the complex.

Naruto stood there for a moment before forming another Shark missile and launching it at the wall.

**With Kisame:**

Kisame entered the main foyer of the complex, only to notice Itachi sitting in a corner, studying some kind of scroll.

"Itachi! I want to ask you something." Kisame shouted, walking towards him.

Itachi didn't even look up, he just gestured at the chair opposite him. Kisame swiftly collapsed into it, placing his feet on the table, wobbling it slightly. Itachi just frowned.

"You know about Naruto's eyes, Leader-sama said something teaching him Jutsu, but he picks them up within 4 – 5 attempts, I've never heard of anything like that, even with natural talent." Kisame questioned.

"It's another power of his eyes, because he has the ability to master all 6 elements, it's rather easy for him to learn Jutsu as I'm sure you can imagine. I've been researching as much as I can about the Rinnegan; unfortunately there is hardly any information about it at all." Itachi replied.

"So he can learn almost any Jutsu in existence simply because of his eyes?" Kisame said, a hint of awe could be heard in his voice.

"Yes, along with the Rinnegan and his natural skill at Ninjutsu, he'll be one of the strongest ninjas in existence. He's got to be, to live up to his legacy." Itachi finished.

"Eh? What legacy?" Kisame asked.

"He's the son of the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato." Itachi said simply.

"Wha..?" Kisame said, shocked. "But he sealed the Kyuubi inside him?"

"Yes, although I don't remember the details, he couldn't exactly ask someone for their baby so he could theoretically ruin its life." Itachi replied, not even batting an eyelid at the sensitive material he'd just revealed.

"How do you know all this?" Kisame questioned, still sceptical over Itachi's claim.

"You don't think I just wasted my time when I became an ANBU Captain do you? There were some complex seals and traps protecting that kind of material, I just managed a glimpse before I nearly lost my arm." Itachi told him.

"Besides if you've ever seen a picture of the Yondaime, then you look at Naruto, you can see resemblance." He finished.

Kisame made a mental note to find a picture of the Yondaime and study it thoroughly.

"Huh. Alright, I'd best go and check on Naruto." Kisame said, before standing up and strolling outside.

He entered the training ground he and Naruto had been and found the boy in the process of forming another missile. He watched from afar as the missile rose out of the water in the crater, a lot longer and streamlined than the ones he'd seen him create before. It flew at the wall and dug into it, before dispersing. Kisame looked on, impressed.

"Oi, Naruto!" He shouted at the boy, walking towards him. "Why are they so much longer? That won't do enough damage." He said to the boy.

"I know that, but they travel faster and don't immediately disperse when they hit something. They won't do as much damage, but you can aim for more precise spots with it." Naruto explained.

'_So he took the Jutsu and adapted it, I don't really like them like this, but I'll admit it's clever of him to have figured out how to make them faster.'_ Kisame thought.

"Alright Naruto, I want you to show me **Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu**, aim it at the ground, not the wall, it doesn't look very stable at the moment." He joked.

Naruto just nodded before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, his eyes quickly opened and he ran through the forty-four hand seals required for the Jutsu. Kisame stood there, smirking.

"**Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu**" Naruto shouted.

Four prongs of water shot up from the crater, the rest of the water snaked up through the prongs and formed what looked like a dragon, it's eyes glowing a sinister yellow.

Naruto kept his eyes focused on the ground; the dragon followed his line of sight and crashed directly into the spot he'd been looking at, causing a small crater to form.

"Very good. Training's over for today, I just wanted to see if you'd kept on practicing the other Jutsu I'd taught you." Kisame told him, Naruto just grinned at him and nodded. Kisame seemed satisfied by this and strolled back indoors.

Naruto decided to stay outside and practice his **Doton** Jutsus a bit more, feeling like he hadn't invested enough time in them.

**2 Hours Later:**

Naruto stepped into the complex, noticing Itachi sitting in the corner, poring over some scrolls, Naruto also noticed a small pile of them placed behind him as well.

He walked over to him. "Itachi?"

Itachi turned around to see Naruto walking towards him, arms crossed behind his head.

"Naruto, I want to ask you something. Sit down." He said, Naruto complied and sat down opposite him.

"I've been researching your Doujutsu; so far I've found nothing that we don't already know, Rikudou Sennin, all 6 Chakra elements. I want to know what it feels like." Itachi asked him.

Naruto was shocked by the question, mainly because Itachi usually kept to himself.

"I remember the first time I used them, that accident before we first met." He looked down at the floor. "I didn't know what had happened but I felt great, like I'd been reborn, I can't describe it. Now I don't feel any different, if I am supposed to feel any different now, I'm guessing my body has already gotten used to it." Naruto told him.

Itachi merely nodded, "I see, it's nothing like first awakening the Sharingan then. It's quite overwhelming I'll admit, seeing chakra for the first time, watching people move, knowing how they're going to move before they do."

Naruto merely nodded, not knowing how to reply to what Itachi had said.

It was silent for a moment before Naruto piped up.

"Itachi, earlier when we were talking about the Sharingan, you mentioned something called the Bakugan. What's that?" Naruto asked.

"Ah, it's called the Byakugan, and it's another Doujutsu, like the Rinnegan and Sharingan. I'll explain something to you, there are only 3 known Doujutsu throughout the world: The Rinnegan, Sharingan and Byakugan. It would seem to me that the Rinnegan is focused purely on Ninjutsu, giving you all 6 Chakra elements and various other abilities. The fact you seem to be able to learn any Jutsu once it's been shown to you also supports this. The Sharingan is a Genjutsu Doujutsu; it's very hard to break one that has the Sharingan supporting it. It also allows me or any other user to copy any technique they see, be it Ninjutsu, Genjutsu or Taijutsu. And finally there's the Byakugan, which is a Taijutsu Doujutsu, it allows the user to see chakra pathways and Tenketsu points. The Hyuugas, the clan with the Byakugan, have a special fighting style called **Jūken**, where they utilise the Byakugan to its fullest. A Master of this style can stop you from using chakra altogether, although it's not permanent, it's still a deadly tool. It requires them to force a little of their own chakra into the targets, once that's done they can rupture or divert the chakra flow. It also gives you a 360º field of vision, and some kind of telescopic sight, making it perfect for scouting." Itachi explained.

"Wow, so that's it?" Naruto asked.

"Well, there are more techniques for each eye. I'm sure Leader-sama will show you all the techniques of the Rinnegan. There are some special techniques of the Sharingan, but I won't tell you anything about those. The Byakugan, I know it has some, I've never witnessed them however so I can't tell you anything more." Itachi finished his explanation.

Naruto sat there mulling over all the new information he'd just heard.

"I'm going to ask Pain if he can teach me another technique." Naruto said before jumping up and sprinting out of the room. Itachi merely looked up and smirked before folding up the scroll he was looking at, and walking out of the room, heading the way Naruto had.

Naruto ran into the meeting room, not even registering Sasori and Kisame conversing in a corner.

He scanned the room briefly before finding what he was looking for. Pain and Konan were sitting in the centre of the room, engaged in light conversation.

"Hey!" They stopped talking and looked towards Naruto, who was currently standing in front of them. "Pain, do you think I've advanced enough to learn another Rinnegan technique?" Naruto practically begged. Pain merely looked at him, before saying. "Yes, I'll show you another technique. I have an assignment for you first however. I'll teach you when you return." Naruto looked shocked for a moment, before nodding.

Itachi had entered the room.

"Kisame, Sasori, Itachi. Now that Orochimaru is gone, we need another member, Sasori's new partner. I've heard about a group of Insurgents near the border of Hi no Kuni. There's not many of them, I'd say 10 maximum. But there's one member who caught my eye, his name is Deidara, he's a missing-nin from Iwagakure, he stole one of their forbidden techniques and left, killing anyone who tried to stop him. I want you three to go there and convince him to join us, if you can't, kill him." Pain explained.

"I also want you to take Naruto and report to me how he fares in battle." He added.

"Hey! What?" Naruto could only complain as Kisame dragged him out of the room.

**4 Hours Later:**

Kisame, Sasori, Itachi and Naruto had been travelling fast, although they still had another 6 hours of travelling to do.

Naruto was at the back of the group, having trouble keeping up with the others.

"Naruto." Itachi had dropped back to speak with him. "I need you to be prepared for this assignment." He said simply.

"Why? What's going to happen?" Naruto questioned, slightly worried.

"You may have to kill people again." Naruto was shocked, but carried on running, not wanting to be left behind.

'_These guys are terrorists though, I need to stop worrying about this, I won't have to kill anyone who hasn't done something wrong or is an enemy ninja. I know I could be killed during every battle I have and they know that as well.'_ Naruto came to his conclusion, before nodding and carrying on running.

Itachi nodded as well before speeding up, returning to his previous position. _'So he finally understands what it means to be a ninja, I was hoping I'd not have to tell him that this is what being a ninja is, looks like I won't have to.' _Itachi smirked briefly before returning to his impassive expression.

**6 Hours Later:**

The group were currently stationed outside the Insurgent camp, an abandoned temple.

"It seems Leader-sama's Intel was right, there are only 9 of them out here, but I can sense what seems to be the strongest one inside the temple. The people down there don't even seem to be ninjas, just ignorant fools who want to destroy things." Sasori told them.

"Well, that's given us the clear advantage. Naruto, we'll leave them up to you." Itachi said, noticing Naruto's change in demeanour, a cold expression plastered across his face.

'_That's a new face; he must have done some serious thinking on the way here, I'm glad to see he understands what he must do.'_ Itachi thought.

'_I know what I have to do now; I wanted to be a ninja. I may not live very long in this kind of life, but I can't afford to give my opponents an advantage and show them I'm afraid. I've just got to get on with it; they know the risks as well.'_ Naruto thought, his cold expression remaining on his face.

"Take care of them." Sasori said, stepping back. "Once you've got their attention, we'll go in and find Deidara."

Naruto just nodded before stepping forward and performing two hand seals, shouting "**Doton: Yomi Numa!**"

The terrorists, who were currently sitting around a small fire in their camp, felt a large rumble before they were pulled into the sludge that had somehow replaced the ground they were sitting on.

4 of them managed to escape the swap before the Jutsu released, hardening it, instantly killing the 5 caught in it.

They were looking around for the attacker, when a kunai flew from the undergrowth, striking one of them in the neck. The man who'd been struck merely looked down and noticed the implement wedged into his neck. He struggled for breath before he fell to his knees, one hand grasping at the wound, the other held up looking for help from his comrades. One of them reacted whilst the others just stood there, shocked at what they'd seen. The man had already died before his friend could reach him.

"Wow, that's cold." Kisame joked, getting a glare from Sasori; Itachi's eyes remained focused on the carnage taking place in front of him.

"Where are you? Come out Coward!" One of the terrorists shouted. Naruto merely stepped out from the bushes and started walking towards him.

"Let's go, he's got their attention." Sasori told Itachi and Kisame, they merely nodded, heading for the temple at the head of the camp.

Naruto stopped in front of the 3 remaining terrorists.

"What the hell! It's only a kid." One of them shouted, running at him, attempting a punch.

"No, you idiot!" The oldest of the three shouted at him.

Naruto ran through some hand seals before shouting "**Katon: Karyū Endan**". Breathing out a steady stream of fire, he heard the screams of the terrorist and stopped the Jutsu.

The terrorist didn't know what hit him; first he'd been running at a little kid, now he was on the ground screaming in pain as his flesh bubbled and cracked from the searing heat.

Naruto was tempted to throw up right then and there. He held his composure though, determined to finish what he'd started.

He walked past the still smoking corpse of the terrorist who had run at him. The smells of burning flesh making him gag.

"Heh, you're not as experienced as you want us to think you are." The oldest Insurgent spoke again.

"That doesn't matter." Naruto stated glaring at the man; he'd stopped about 5 metres from the corpse. His cold eyes holding the older man's gaze.

'_What the hell is wrong with eyes? Who is this boy, he doesn't seem any older than 13, but he has just killed 7 of us. Although he clearly hasn't killed many people before, he seems determined.' _He thought.

There wasn't a chance for another thought as Naruto had just finished another set of hand seals and called out "**Fūton: Shinkūgyoku**". He spat the pellets of wind out at a reasonable pace, each one with enough force to break a rib.

The Wind bullets peppered the older man, he cried out in pain as he felt his bones shatter from the force of them. He collapsed to the ground in agony. His eyesight was blurry and he couldn't catch his breath. He made out the faint outline of his last comrade attempting to run away. He tried to call out, telling him to stop, he realized he couldn't as his mouth filled with blood and he began choking. _'Shit...'_ was his last thought as he passed away.

Naruto merely performed some more hand signs before calling out "**Raiton: Jibashi**"; he imbued the attack with enough chakra to slice through solid rock. The Jutsu struck the man trying to run away in the back, passing straight through him, killing him instantaneously.

Naruto collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily. He was dry heaving, thinking about what he'd just done, he took a glance up. The first thing he noticed was the body of the older man, blood seeping from his nose, a shocked look in his eyes. He looked around and caught sight of the charred remains of a terrorist, he took a deep breath, embracing the carnage, knowing he needed to get used to this kind of thing. He slowly stood up and had a good look around this time. His eyes caught every grim detail, a bone poking through the flesh of the older man, the cracked flesh of the burnt man. He took another deep breath, before making his way to the entrance of the camp; he decided to wait there for the others.

Kisame, Itachi and Sasori soon came out of the temple with Deidara in tow.

"What the hell is this?" Deidara asked, noticing the dead bodies and large brown stain on the ground, the grass seemed to have died there.

"Heh, looks like the kid pulled through." Kisame said to himself.

Itachi merely nodded, while Sasori didn't even seem to register the comment.

They noticed Naruto leaning near a tree near the entrance of the camp, his arms crossed and his eyes closed.

"This kid killed everyone back there?" The 15 year old Deidara shouted.

Itachi merely nodded, while Naruto's eyes shot open, he caught sight of Deidara and just nodded.

'_He's clearly mentally exhausted, but this has helped him advance by leaps and bounds, at least he's accepted what he has to do.'_ Itachi thought to himself.

"Hn, let's go then." Deidara said.

The journey back to Amegakure was mostly silent, Kisame mainly making stupid jokes, at Deidara's expense.

They entered the complex, to find Pain waiting for them in the foyer.

"So you've decided to join us then?" Pain asked Deidara.

Deidara nodded, Pain gestured for him to go and sit down.

"And Naruto? How was he?" Pain asked.

"Fine, he cleared the camp easily, he seems exhausted though." Itachi told him.

Pain just nodded. "Very well, I'll train him tomorrow."

Naruto had already left and headed up to his room. He walked in the door and collapsed onto his bed.

Naruto woke up 2 hours later, feeling refreshed, he'd already accepted what he'd done earlier, and he had decided not to dwell on it.

He decided he would take a shower, knowing he smelt fairly ripe from all the combat earlier.

He stepped off his bed, his leg almost giving way in the process.

'_I can't still be that tired...'_ Naruto thought. He let out a yawn. _'Well, maybe another hour or two.' _He clambered back into bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

**3 Hours Later:**

"Naruto, get up"

Naruto stirred in his bed, slowly opening his eyes, he saw Konan standing in the doorway.

"Pain wants to see you, I suggest you don't keep him waiting" She told him, closing the door.

Naruto jumped out of his bed, noticing he was already dressed. He quickly ran to the bathroom, splashing some water on his face and furiously brushing his teeth.

He ran out of the room down to the main meeting room. He saw Pain leaning over the balcony railing, looking out across the village like he usually did.

"Naruto, I've got something for you." Pain told him. Naruto merely walked towards him.

"Here." He held out his hand. "It's an Amegakure hitai-ate, put it on." He told Naruto.

Naruto merely took it from him, and put it on his forehead, tying it up at the back.

"You haven't been to the Academy here, but you're far stronger than any of the Genin, Chuunin and some Jounin here. Regardless, you still need to show which village you are affiliated with." Pain told him.

Naruto rubbed his hand across the forehead protector, feeling the 4 lines carved into it. He grinned brightly before asking. "Is that all you wanted me for?"

"No, I said I'd teach you another Rinnegan technique, follow me." Pain told him. They both stepped out into one of the training grounds.

"Stand here" Pain said to Naruto, he pointed at the ground. Naruto did as he was told.

Pain walked towards a boulder that was sat in the centre of the training ground, he placed a smaller rock on it, and walked about 15 steps away from it.

He looked towards and called out "**Banshō Ten'in**", the rock was pulled towards him, and he grabbed it in his outstretched hand.

"This technique is called **Banshō Ten'in**, it's the accompanying Jutsu of **Shinra Tensei**, but instead of pushing things away it pulls them towards you. As you can see, it's slightly more refined than **Shinra Tensei**, if I'd put more chakra into the technique, I could have easily pulled that boulder towards me. Now, I want you to try it." Pain told Naruto.

"Make a **Kage Bunshin** and have it stand about 12 metres away from you." Naruto did so. "Now focus chakra to your eyes and palm, but instead of forcing it away, think about pulling it towards you. Like a vacuum." He advised.

Naruto tried the technique, only for nothing to happen.

"Try it again; put more chakra into the technique this time." Pain said.

Naruto tried it once more, forcing out quite a large amount of chakra, the **Kage Bunshin **felt an immense pulling and was pulled straight towards Naruto, and it crashed into him and dispersed in a poof of smoke.

Naruto was currently on the ground muttering to himself about stupid **Kage Bunshins**.

"Hmm, you put too much chakra into it that time; you'll have to practice it a lot to be able to use at an acceptable level. Do that in battle and you'll kill yourself." Pain told him.

"There's one more thing I want to show you, I don't know if you've figured it out." He stepped forward and pulled a Kunai from his Akatsuki cloak, he placed it in the palm of his hand. Naruto watched as it appeared to vibrate before launching towards the boulder from Pain's palm.

"Eh? But you didn't even throw it" Naruto said.

"I'd have thought that to be obvious. I used **Shinra Tensei**; it requires a great deal of practice and concentration to be able to do something like that with it though. I suggest you work on **Banshō Ten'in** for now." Pain told him.

Naruto just nodded as Pain walked back inside.

Naruto created another **Kage Bunshin** and got to work on practicing **Banshō Ten'in**.

**A Year Later:**

Naruto was sat at the desk in his room. His technique journal open in front of him, he now knew almost 5 Jutsu of each element. He was adding his latest addition at the moment.

**Journal:**

**Suiton: Suigadan (Water Release: Water Fang Bullet)**

This Jutsu creates a circle of crushing water spikes around the target. It's hard to evade, but there has to be a sufficient water source around, preferably below the target.

**End of Journal.**

Naruto had also been getting some advanced Taijutsu training from Kisame; he didn't know any styles just some more advanced manoeuvres. Kisame had said due to his natural affinity with Ninjutsu and the techniques of the Rinnegan, becoming proficient in Taijutsu would be useless, although if he ever did face an experienced Taijutsu master in battle he'd need to be careful.

He'd made some progress with **Banshō Ten'in**, going so far as to steal various items that belonged to Deidara, much to his chagrin and Kisame's joy.

He wouldn't say it's mastered yet; he still put too little or too much chakra, only ever getting it perfect a couple of times.

He decided that he'd only use it if he was fighting a long range fighter.

He'd also been spending plenty of time in the village, so much so that most of the store owners knew his name. Mainly because he'd gone into their restaurant or store and tried almost everything on the menu. He'd earned quite a reputation throughout Amegakure.

He would often come out from the compound with a cheery look on his face, greeting everyone who passed him with a wave or a grin. His personality had seemed to rub off on the various children of Amegakure as well. Before, they had been cold and calculating, only focusing on the darker side of life, being around Naruto somehow brought out the personalities many of them had locked away. They'd laugh with him and sometimes they would even pull a prank or two.

The parents of said children didn't want to admit it, but they were happy that their children had met Naruto. As much as they wanted their child to become a strong ninja, they worried that they were becoming too detached. Naruto, they noted, seemed impossibly strong but still maintained a fun loving personality. The ability to bring out a normally cold person's fun loving side was an ability not many had. To them, he seemed like the ray of sunshine that shone through the bleak rain clouds of Amegakure.

Most of the villagers were surprised when they discovered Naruto lived in the same tower their enigmatic leader did. While Pain had always sent Konan as his emissary, Naruto had frequently been seen conversing with villagers, not once mentioned the leader of Amegakure. He never wanted information, he just wanted to talk. Another one of his traits people admired.

As he stood in the centre of one of the many training grounds, Naruto formed a **Kage Bunshin** and decided he'd practice **Banshō Ten'in **for the rest of the day.

(Short time skip, I know and I'm sorry.)

**A Year Later:**

On Pain's advice, Naruto hadn't been taught any new Jutsu. He'd been practically ordered to master all the Jutsu he currently knew.

They were coming along nicely; he was still having a bit of trouble with **Banshō Ten'in**, but he'd got it down so he could pull smaller things, not Pain's level yet though.

Most of his elemental Jutsus had been completed. He was still having trouble maintaining enough concentration for **Fūton: Shinkūgyoku**, but the pellets he could fire now were a lot more refined, and could travel through 3 walls instead of 2 now at full power.

He'd also noticed the effects of puberty, apparently it started 2 years ago, but he hadn't taken any notice back then.

Deidara and Kisame had since taken to ridiculing him about the scruffs of hair that had appeared on his chin. His excuse was that he didn't know how to shave, that was a complete lie. Truthfully, he thought they looked pretty damn sweet.

He strolled through the complex, into the meeting room. He'd been told to go there at 9:00 for an assignment to evaluate his skills.

He saw Kakuzu talking to Pain and walked over to them.

"Kakuzu! Long time no see" Naruto shouted.

Kakuzu merely turned and glared at Naruto. "Don't talk to me like that, boy."

"Eeeeehhhh."

"Enough." Pain ordered, they were both silent immediately.

"Naruto, you will be going with Kakuzu to seek out an intriguing person; he shall be the 9th member of Akatsuki." Pain told him. "His name is Hidan; apparently he killed several people in Yugakure before fleeing the village and joining up with some kind of cult."

"Yugakure, I've never heard of such a place." Naruto said.

"That's not surprising, they don't really train ninjas anymore, and it's more like a place for traveller's to stop now." Pain told him. "Exercise extreme caution, from what I've heard he can't be killed. I don't believe it, but I know he's very strong. It will be a good test for you." As Pain finished explaining, Konan walked through the door and stood next to him.

Naruto just nodded, knowing he didn't have a say in the matter.

"Will he be alright?" Konan asked Pain quietly.

"I'm sure he will be fine, Kakuzu is accompanying him. Originally, I was only going to send Kakuzu, but I realised this would be the perfect opportunity to test Naruto for when he joins Akatsuki properly." Pain reassured her.

"Let's go." Kakuzu said. Not bothering to wait for a reply, he walked out of the door and into Amegakure.

Naruto caught up with him. "So where is this Hidan guy?" Naruto asked.

Kakuzu snorted at the friendliness in Naruto's tone. '_I remember that time he killed those 6 bandits, it's like he's a completely different person in battle.' _Kakuzu thought.

"I've heard talk of him being near Kusagakure, he's travelling alone it seems. He's in some kind of cult that worships a god of Murder called Jashin, other than that I don't know anything." Kakuzu told them. "It'll take 5 hours to get there, travelling at normal pace."

Kakuzu shot from the spot he'd been standing in, Naruto not far behind.

**5 Hours Later:**

The duo had entered Kusagakure and asked around if anyone had seen anything suspicious, they had no luck. One person had even had the audacity to tell them "Not until I saw you three." Unsurprisingly, things hadn't gone well from that point and they had to leave Kusagakure shortly afterwards, in fear of somebody finding the body.

Currently, they were searching around the forest surrounding the village for any trace of Hidan.

Naruto hit pay dirt when he found a band of slaughtered bandits.

He had called Kakuzu to the spot. Kakuzu noticed a blood trail leading away from the carnage. He suggested they follow it.

They'd been following the trail for about 5 minutes, before Kakuzu shot his arm out, indicating for Naruto to stop. He nodded his head once, causing Naruto to look in the direction he was facing.

They saw a man sitting down on a log, his top thrown to the side, he had a large gash across his chest, and he was currently unfurling a bandage to wrap around it.

"Do it." Kakuzu told him before shunshinning away.

"**Raiton: Ikazuchi Hakai (Lightning Release: Lightning Destruction)**" Naruto called out.

Hidan heard this and glanced up, only to see a large crack in the ground rapidly approaching him. Not thinking about what it was, he quickly launched from the log he'd been sitting on, he landed safely and turned around to see the log shattered, pieces of timber laying all over the floor.

He quickly threw his scythe into the bushes where the lightning blast had come from. There was no indication he had hit anything and that pissed him off to no end. He sprinted to the bushes and began slicing at them, hoping to catch the attacker off guard.

What he hadn't realised was that Naruto had moved as soon as he had used the Jutsu. Naruto took 3 kunai from his holster; one of them was a custom one Katsuo had made for him. He threw a normal one at Hidan; the man quickly turned around and blocked it with his scythe, smirking as he did so.

"I see you runt. Why don't you come out and we can finish this?" Hidan spoke in a cocky tone. He wasn't expecting another kunai to fly out, he easily blocked it again or so he thought. He felt a sharp pain in his leg and looked down to see a slim kunai stuck in his thigh.

Naruto used this opportunity and charged out towards the man as he yanked the kunai out of his leg. Hidan glared at Naruto and swung his scythe towards him.

Naruto noticed this and jumped back, he quickly clapped his hands together and called out "**Fūton: Reppūshō**", administering as much chakra as he could into the attack. It appeared that luck was on his side today as the scythe was pushed back by the blast of wind.

Hidan was astonished a boy could perform such acts in the middle of a tense battle. He roughly tugged the string attached to the scythe and pulled it back into his hands. He charged towards Naruto, prepared to kill the boy.

Naruto stood there for a moment, anticipating Hidan's next attack. As the man drew the scythe over his head, prepared to cleave the boy shoulder to hip, Naruto merely raised his hand and called **"Shinra Tensei**". Hidan's face changed from a look of cockiness to one of shock and surprise as he felt like he'd been hit by a landslide. He launched backwards, coughing up blood as he did so, before slamming into a tree.

Hidan laid there for a moment wondering what kind of technique was just used against him. He managed to pull himself up with the aid of the tree, before proceeding to spit blood on the floor. He looked up and grinned at Naruto, not having had this much fun in a long time. He realised that with a technique like that at his disposal, he could not engage the boy in close quarters combat even if he was unkillable. Glancing down at the ground, he noticed one of the kunai that had been thrown earlier. He quickly formed a plan and gripped his scythe tightly.

Naruto observed the man, unable to tell what he was going to do. He decided he wasn't going to wait for the man to attack and took the initiative. He quickly ran through some hand seals, much to Hidan's surprise.

'_Shit, he's still got more chakra? Those two Jutsu he just performed should have drained a kid that age!'_ Hidan thought to himself, his plan ruined thanks to him underestimating Naruto.

The blonde boy finished the hand seals and called out "**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu**". The enormous fireball engulfed Hidan before he had a chance to jump out of the way.

Naruto stood there, admiring his handiwork, it was his biggest Grand Fireball as of yet. He didn't hear the screams of pain that usually accompanied Fire Jutsus though, he focused Chakra to eyes and examined the Fireball. He could barely see through the massive amount of chakra that made it up, he could faintly make out another signature standing in the centre of it though.

Before Naruto had a chance to react, Hidan's scythe had come launching out of the fireball, luckily for him, this was the time Kakuzu had decided to step in. His arm extending from his body thanks to his **Jiongu (Earth Grudge Fear)**. Naruto blinked and saw the scythe hanging limply in front of him, barely 10 inches away from his face. He noticed Kakuzu's arm grasping the string.

The smoke from the Jutsu cleared and Hidan stood there, glaring at Kakuzu, having traced the arm back to where it had come from.

Kakuzu kept his eye on Naruto.

'_That was quite impressive, his use of Jutsu is rather spectacular, I'm quite surprised at his growth.'_ Kakuzu thought.

"So you're here together, why?" Hidan asked, as he cautiously eyed Kakuzu.

"We want you to join Akatsuki." Kakuzu said simply.

Hidan merely looked on. "Akatsuki? I've never heard of it. I already follow Jashin-sama anyway; now I'm gonna fucking kill you all."

"Wait, you can still follow your God in our organization, we just need strong ninja to help further our goals." Kakuzu told him.

"And what're these goals?" Hidan asked.

"If you accept my invitation, you'll find out." Kakuzu offered.

"Will I get to kill people?"

"Yes."

"Alright, lead the way."

'_What the hell?'_ was all Naruto could think.

"What about this kid?" Hidan asked.

"That was merely a test, for him and you." Kakuzu informed him. "You don't need to worry about it."

"Good, I wasn't planning to anyway." Hidan said.

**Amegakure:**

"Hidan, welcome" Pain spoke as Hidan and Kakuzu walked through the door. Naruto walked in behind them.

"Who's this ass?" Hidan asked.

"I am the Leader of Akatsuki" Pain said, not even bothered by the insult. "I take it by your being here; you've decided to join us?" He asked.

Hidan merely nodded. "As long as I get to please Jashin-sama, I'll go where I want."

"I understand. Naruto, leave us." Pain told the boy, who was currently standing patiently behind Hidan and Kakuzu, he merely nodded before leaving.

"And how did Naruto perform?" Pain asked Kakuzu.

"He caught Hidan off-guard, it was better than I expected." Kakuzu told him.

"Hey! Fuck you." Hidan shouted.

Pain just nodded, clearly pleased with this turn of events.

**A Year Later:**

Naruto had spent the past year practicing Taijutsu with Kisame and Hidan. He'd also learnt two more Jutsu to add to his arsenal.

**Journal:**

**Doton: Ganban Kyū**

The user forces two large pillars to appear from the ground and crush the opponent.

The hand seals are odd; you form a fist with your right hand and cover the fist with your left hand.

**End of Journal.**

He'd spent a week learning **Doton: Ganban Kyū**, he found it easy to form the pillars and force them together.

He'd had a little trouble with **Raiton: Ikazuchi Hakai**, he couldn't seem to convert his chakra to lightning as quickly as he'd hoped, he decided if he had to use before he'd mastered it, it'd be done when he had someone else covering him, like most of his large scale elemental jutsus.

He'd also been practicing **Shinra Tensei **and **Banshō Ten'in**, he discovered he could use **Banshō Ten'in **then **Shinra Tensei**, to say the attack was formidable was an understatement.

Naruto was currently sitting outside in his Pain's personal training ground. It was situated behind the others and was around 3 times the size of an average training ground.

"Naruto." He glanced up from his seated position and noticed two people walking towards, one of them was Pain, the other was a person he didn't recognize, however they did have the same kind of facial piercings as Pain.

"Is this a new member?" Naruto asked, noticing he was wearing an Akatsuki cloak. The man had dark orange hair, with a single bang that covered parts of the right side of his slim line face.

"No, I have something to explain to you." Pain said simply.

So Pain sat there and explained his Six Paths technique, the discussion lasting well over an hour.

"So you're telling me, these 2 bodies here are being controlled by you, from somewhere?" Naruto asked confusion clear in his voice.

"Yes, and like I've said there are 4 others. I'll show you them in due time. You will tell no-one about this." Pain told him.

Naruto nodded at the order, fearing what would happen if he mentioned it to anyone.

"Do I have to use that technique to use the Rinnegan properly?" Naruto asked him.

"No, there were some...circumstances that led to me using this. You won't have to." Pain explained.

"So what 'Paths' are these?" Naruto questioned.

"This is Deva Path, it focuses on **Shinra Tensei **and **Banshō Ten'in**, the next one is Animal Path, you'll see what it can do now." Pain told him.

"There are 3 other Rinnegan techniques I still want to teach you, I'll show you one now. It'll take a lot of practice to master, but once you do it'll give you a huge advantage in battle." Deva Path added.

Naruto sat there for a moment; absorbing all the information he'd just been told.

A minute or two passed before Naruto nodded, signalling for the Deva Path to continue his explanation.

The Animal Path stepped forward, nipping and ran through some hand seals. He slammed his hand down onto the ground and shouted out "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**". Naruto watched as a strange seal spread out, then an enormous puff of smoke.

The smoke dispersed and Naruto's jaw dropped. Standing before him was the Animal Path with a giant Rhino behind him. He noticed it had Rinnegan eyes and a number of body piercings.

"What the hell?" was all Naruto could say.

It took him a moment to regain his composure, the Animal Path looking at him with an impassive expression on his face, as if expecting the question he was about to ask.

"It has the Rinnegan? And those piercings? Are you controlling it?" He asked.

The Animal Path shook his head. "No, the piercings have allowed me to force my chakra into its circulatory system, and force it to submit to my will. The Rinnegan eyes are just a side effect of this. There are various other creatures like this. The piercings are also chakra receivers; you can issue them commands if you reach out with your chakra and connect with any of the receivers. It's the same method as my **Six Paths** technique, just nowhere near as advanced. It's also an immense advantage as you won't have to shout to them to tell them what to do in battle. Once you've formed a link with the creature, you won't need to do it again. When you summon it again, the link will be made automatically and you can command them straight away. Be warned that you'll have to do this with each summon. If you're confused as to why they'll obey you as well, it's because users of the Rinnegan have a certain chakra signature that only this material can identify." He said pointing at one his piercings. "There's an advanced contract I devised, I've already added your name to it, so you can now summon every animal I have under my command. Now I want you to try it. The hand seals are: Boar – Dog – Bird – Monkey – Ram." The Animal Path explained, dismissing the Rhino in the process.

Naruto sat there in there in a stupor. _'There are animals that size that I can CONTROL with my mind? That's awesome! But it sounds so hard to do. I guess I'm just going to have to try it.' _Naruto thought to himself.

Naruto stood up and nodded at Pain, looking around he noticed the Deva Path was nowhere to be seen, he thought nothing of it.

"Put as much chakra into the technique as you can." Pain advised before stepping back, waiting for Naruto.

Naruto nodded before running through the hand seals, slamming his hand on the ground and calling out "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**".

There was a large puff of smoke; Naruto could only look on excitedly. The expression on his face fell when he saw what he had summoned.

A Giant Panda sat in there centre of the training ground, while Naruto stood there, looking up at it, he pointed an accusatory finger.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? I wanted something awesome and all I got was this Panda?" He roared.

Pain just looked at him, no expression his face at all. "That's a very useful summon, try to force your chakra into it and I'll show you."

Naruto did as he was told, focusing some chakra to his eyes and staring at one of the receivers on the Panda's back, he thought about the image of his chakra coming off his body and entering the receivers, trying to help along the process. He felt a sudden presence and looked up to see the Panda looking more alert than it had been, it still didn't move however.

"Impressive Naruto, now stand next to the left arm of the Summon." Pain said. Naruto did as he was told and stepped next to the Panda. "Now step back about 5 paces." Naruto just sighed and stepped back.

"Good. Now I'll show you what I meant earlier about controlling them mentally. Use the Summon to protect you." Pain told him, cryptically.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked; he didn't get an answer. He watched as Pain pulled several kunai from his robe and was preparing to throw them at him.

'_Shit, well it can't help to try.' _He thought as the kunai were thrown at him, he commanded the Panda to protect him, he closed his eyes, expecting it not to work and braced himself, ready for the pain. When it never came, he opened his eyes, and noticed a large arm in front of him; he looked to his left and noticed the Panda had shot its arm out to shield him from the kunai.

"I presume you ordered it to protect you?" Pain asked. Naruto nodded, still in awe of the creature. "Take a look at its arm." Naruto came around and looked at it.

"It has a rock like skin; it can defend you against kunai, senbon, and various other thrown weapons. Now you've formed a link with this particular summon, any time you summon it again, it will obey you without question." Pain explained.

Naruto nodded, before ordering the Panda to dispel itself.

"There are some things I'd like to tell you about summoned creatures. Most summonings require a blood offering, a bite to the thumb is usually acceptable. As these creatures are merely bound to my will, and soon yours, they require no such thing. Also, if the summons are injured enough in battle, they will dispel themselves on instinct. I want you to continue practicing it, there are 8 creatures all together. Once you've been able to summon all of them at least once, when you perform the Jutsu again, think of which one you want. Some of them specialise in attack, others defence. You need to figure out which is best for each situation. I will not be teaching you another technique until you can prove to me you're good enough for it." Animal Path explained, before walking back inside.

Naruto stretched for a moment before saying "Well, I may as well get started."

**A Week Later:**

Naruto had managed to summon 4 of the 8 creatures Pain had mentioned. He was currently sitting at his desk, adding the new discoveries to his Journal.

**Journal:**

**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**

I can summon various creatures to aid me in combat, some of them are a bit unimpressive, but they are still very useful. Apparently there's 8 of them, I've only managed 4 of them so far.

**Giant Panda**

Mainly used for defence against thrown weapons, it also seems fairly resistant to some of the larger Jutsu. It's not invincible though, it seems it can't take more than 3 **Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu**, so I'll have to be wary of that. It can last ages against a barrage of kunai and senbon though.

**Giant Ram**

This thing is huge; it seems to be used for simple brute force attacks, forcing the opponent into a corner. It's nowhere near as resilient as the Panda though.

**Giant Rhino**

This Summon is another used for pure brute force, the horn can do a lot of damage, I figured that out after I made it charge into one of the training ground walls. I'd tried to say that because the Rhino did it, it wasn't technically my fault, I still had to fix the wall.

**Giant Centipede**

This summon seems to be used for distraction, it's very weak but it's reasonably fast. I doubt I'll use this summon very often.

**End of Journal.**

As he'd spent the last hour adding the notes to journal, Naruto decided he'd go and practice the Jutsu so more. He stood up, stretching his arms above his head, and strolled out of the door.

He entered the largest training ground and walked to the centre.

He gathered his bearings before running through the hand seals and slamming his hand onto the ground. A huge Lobster appeared in the training ground before him.

He'd already formed the link with the Crustacean, the familiar presence and sudden alertness of the summon telling him it was successful. He hoped this summon had some kind of technique it could use. He decided to make it use any technique it had and stepped back.

A moment later, a huge wave of bubbles exploded from the mouth of the Crustacean. Naruto looked on, shocked. He wasn't expecting it to have any techniques.

The wave of bubbles subsided, and the Crustacean shuffled around for a moment, before it stopped moving altogether.

"Well, that was pretty damn impressive." Naruto said to himself.

He stood in front of the lobster, analyzing it.

'_It looks physically weak, but that attack it just performed, that seems quite powerful, it could be good to throw enemies off, or even as some kind of smokescreen.'_ Naruto thought

'_It's probably best used when working with someone else, I can't see it doing any good in the middle of a battle.' _Naruto thought.

Naruto dismissed the Crustacean, making a mental note to add it his Journal later.

He decided he would hone his Nature Jutsus, figuring they could always be improved.

**2 Hours Later:**

Naruto left the training ground and decided he'd get some Ramen for dinner. He strolled into the restaurant, the owner shouted his name and invited him over to a table.

"Ah, Naruto-san, it's been a while since I've seen you here." The owner said.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Ah sorry Hiraku-san, I've been busy." He explained, hoping the owner didn't know of his frequent visits to rival restaurants.

The kind man merely waved his hand, dismissing Naruto's worries. "Haha, it's fine, as long as you pop in whenever you can!" He laughed.

Naruto merely grinned before ordering a Miso Ramen.

After finishing off his meal, he placed the money on the table, complimented the chef and walked back to the complex

When he entered his room, he sat down at his desk and opened up his Journal.

**Journal:**

**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**

**Giant Crustacean**

I can't tell what kind of animal this is; it could be a lobster or something completely unheard of. It's the only one I've managed to summon that can use Jutsu, it fires a huge stream of bubbles from its mouth, I devised that it could be used for distraction and some kind of smokescreen.

**End of Journal.**

Naruto had spent the next day, messing around with the Giant Crustacean's jutsu, figuring out its weaknesses and strengths; he had discovered that while it wasn't a very potent attack, it could be used for a lot longer than most other Jutsus.

**A Year Later:**

Naruto had spent the last year going on various, just to gain some battle experience, he had killed people again. Naruto had closed himself off from the feeling of sickness and guilt. Soon after he could kill a man and he would feel nothing. As if he was a cold killing-machine on the battlefield, Pain had told him that this is what most ninjas are like when they are in combat. "You need to kill your sense of self every time you enter a battle, just don't let that feeling consume you, or you'll become a shell of the ninja you used to be, living only for the thrill of killing someone." Pain explained.

Naruto had also summoned all 8 of the creatures Pain had mentioned. He was currently adding the latest discovered technique to his journal.

**Journal:**

**Giant Drill-Beaked Bird**

It looks really weird; it has 3 wings and legs. Shouldn't judge a book by its cover though, its ferocious beak seems like it can do a lot of damage if enough velocity is gained during one of its dives. I recently discovered a technique it has; it can lay eggs that explode when I want them to. It's an incredibly useful ability, but they aren't exactly easy to conceal and summoning the bird itself will attract a lot of attention. It'll probably be used for setting traps before a fight.

**Giant Multi-Headed Dog**

This little bastard is a pain to control, it has 10 heads. If it's attacked with a dangerous enough attack, it can split itself up and each head can attack as one, having 10 dogs at a time to control is difficult, I need a lot more practice before I can use it properly. I'll have to experiment with 2 heads and then move up.

**Giant Snake-Tailed Chameleon **

This is my favourite summon, it has to blend in with its surrounding's perfectly. Pain told me it's possible for me to climb inside its mouth and attack from there. I took it into consideration and decided that if something terrible was to happen then extreme situations call for extreme measures. Otherwise, there's no way in hell I'm climbing inside that thing's mouth!

**End of Journal.**

Although today was Naruto's 16th birthday, he didn't seem to care. He just focused all his attention on training when he wasn't in the village or learning new techniques.

**The Next Morning:**

"Naruto, Leader-sama wants to see us. Come with me." He said simply before walking off. Naruto quickly ran out of his room to catch up with him.

"Do you know what about?" Naruto asked.

Itachi merely shook his head.

The two of them stepped into meeting room, noticing Pain and Konan conversing in the centre.

Pain turned to face them, "Itachi, stay here with Konan, I need to speak with Naruto privately. Come Naruto." He gestured to the door leading to the training grounds and began walking, Naruto was slightly behind.

They reached one of the smaller training grounds, Naruto noticed two other men were already there waiting for him. The closest one looked quite stocky; he had facial piercings and dark orange hair with a small ponytail at the back. Naruto then took a look at the other man, he also had facial piercings and appeared to be very tall, he had long dark orange hair which reached down just below his shoulder blades. They both wore Akatsuki cloaks.

'_2 Paths? I wonder what techniques these ones use.'_ Naruto thought.

"Naruto." The stocky man stepped forward. "This is the Preta path, it utilizes the more advanced defensive techniques of the Rinnegan, and you're going to learn the most useful one." The Preta Path explained.

Naruto just nodded, waiting for an example.

"I want you to attack me with any kind of Ninjutsu" He said simply.

Naruto looked on, shocked by demand.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked.

"Do it." Preta Path commanded.

Naruto gulped before running through some hand seals and calling "**Raiton: Jibashi**", aiming directly for him.

He watched as a strange barrier appeared the Preta Path, the lightning attacking seemingly disappearing as he remained unharmed.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto asked.

"It's a special and extremely advanced sealing technique that is capable of absorbing any chakra, regardless of any spacial or nature transformation, and dispersing it within one's body by spinning the chakra within one's body in the opposite direction. This Jutsu also has an offensive use, if you can get close enough to grab the opponent, the barrier the barrier can absorb chakra right out of an individual's body, effectively draining them. I'll explain how to use it now: You must first focus chakra into your eyes and hold your arms out in front of you, then you force your chakra out, creating a small detection barrier. Once you feel the attack hit, increase your output of chakra in that area of the barrier and the attack will be absorbed. Try and form the barrier now. I shall be back in a moment." Preta Path said, walking back inside the complex.

Naruto stood there for a moment, going over the instructions in his head.

He held his arms out and focused a large amount of chakra to his eyes; he felt a strange feeling overcome him as he noticed a strong blue aura surrounding him. He quickly released the Jutsu and tried once more, getting it right the second time as well.

The Preta Path soon returned with Itachi in tow.

"Naruto, prepare yourself." Preta Path said before turning to Itachi. "Do it now".

Itachi merely nodded before speeding through some hand seals. Naruto noticed this and quickly set up his barrier in time to hear "**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu**", the fireball came flying towards him, he felt it strike the barrier and immediately focused as much chakra as he could to the point of impact. The Fireball was seemingly sucked into the aura surrounding him. He looked around for a moment before cheering.

Itachi looked on, impassive expression on his face, but inside he was wondering how the hell Naruto had managed to do something like that.

'_It's seems he's advanced at an incredible rate while I was gone.'_ Itachi thought.

"Impressive, Naruto. Itachi you may leave." Preta Path said.

Itachi nodded; a bit peeved that he'd been called away from an assignment just to test something.

"You've grown a lot faster than I expected Naruto, I'm surprised." Pain told him. "There's another technique I want to teach you. This is the Human Path," the taller man stepped forward, "It utilises one of the two interrogation techniques available to users of the Rinnegan. Let me show you." Preta Path walked back into the complex leaving Naruto with the Human Path.

The Human Path walked over to Naruto and placed a hand on his head; he closed his eyes and gathered chakra to his palm.

Naruto felt remarkably lightheaded for a moment, before collapsing to his knees.

"Urgh, what is that technique?" He managed to groan out.

"You're wondering if you'll ever be accepted into the organization and get one of those "awesome" cloaks as you so adequately put it." Pain answered.

Naruto had a look of shock plastered across his face.

"How did you know that?" Naruto questioned, a hint of anger in his voice. Pain merely shook his head. Realisation dawned on Naruto a moment later

"You can read my mind? How?" He asked.

"When I placed my hand on your head a moment ago, I forced my chakra into your brain, thus allowing me access to your thoughts and memories." Pain explained. "I wanted to show you this technique, I doubt you'll have the chance to use it, but I'll explain how it works. You must place your hand onto your target's head, you then focus chakra to your palm, and force it into the target's brain. You must maintain contact at all times for it to work." He finished.

"I have a question." Naruto said.

Pain merely nodded.

"What would happen if I had the chakra barrier up and someone tried to punch through it?" He asked.

"You can momentarily drain their chakra, but the attack will pass through, it absorbs Ninjutsu only." Pain explained.

Naruto just nodded, he didn't have any idea he could do that but he had to make sure it looked like that was the answer he was expecting.

"You mentioned other techniques, will I learn those?" Naruto asked.

"You will not. Not unless I see that you truly deserve them." Pain answered.

"Eh?" Naruto roared, quickly realising who he had just shouted at and covered his mouth with his hand.

"You may have gotten stronger, but until you've joined Akatsuki properly, and proven to me you aren't a wasted cause, you'll get no more training" Pain replied sternly.

Naruto could only nod sheepishly as Pain walked back into the complex.

Naruto formed a **Kage Bunshin** to help him master the Ninjutsu absorption technique Pain had just shown him.

**3 Days Later:**

Naruto had spent the last 3 days practicing his Absorption technique, trying larger and more destructive jutsu on it. He'd almost seriously injured himself several times, not forcing enough chakra into the point of impact or misjudging the speed of the jutsu.

**The Next Morning:**

Naruto had been woken up by Konan, apparently Pain wanted to see him.

He strolled into the meeting room, finding Pain waiting for him.

"Naruto, over the past 7 years you've both improved greatly, there is one more test you must undertake however before you're accepted into Akatsuki. Zetsu has been keeping an eye on Orochimaru since he defected from the organization, apparently he plans to attack Konoha during the upcoming Chuunin Exams, you are going to enter the exams and prevent this invasion at all costs. Konoha needs to stay intact for our plans to come to fruition." Pain explained.

"Do this and we'll welcome you into the Akatsuki. You'll be leaving in 2 days, use the remaining time you have here to prepare. Also, you will tell no-one in Konoha of this invasion or about what you have been doing for the past 7 years. If anyone asks why you are wearing an Amegakure headband, tell them Itachi abandoned you after he kidnapped you, and a kind Jounin found and brought you here. Do I make myself clear?" Pain finished.

Naruto nodded. He left the room, heading back to his own.

"Back to Konoha eh? That sounds like fun."

* * *

><p><em><strong>The next chapter will feature mainly Konoha. Also, help me decide who to have paired with Naruto. My personal favorites are NarutoxYugito, NarutoxIno, NarutoxTenten, NarutoxSamui, NaurtoxTayuya, and NarutoxMei Terumi. But ultimately who he gets paired with is decided by you readers. And remember what I said about NOT reviewing!<br>**_


	3. Author's note

**Just to let you guys know, I'm midway through drafting chapter 3 and will update by this upcoming Friday at the latest.**

Now to answer a couple of questions-

Q- How will Madara react to Naruto being in Akatuski?  
>A- You mean how will Tobi act. In this story, while Tobi is the true leader of Akatuski, he and Madara, like in canon, are not one and the same. The Eye of the Moon plan will be orchestrated by Madara. As for Tobi, read the story "Icha Icha: Origami Angel" to shed some light on his background and how he will act.<p>

Q- Does Naruto know Minato is his father?  
>A- Yes, he is aware but goes by Uzumaki because Kushina drilled it into his head he was not worthy of having Minato name.<p>

Q- How will Jiraiya, Sarutobi, and Tsunade react to Naruto?  
>You will see.<p>

**Also guys, look at my profile to look at a** **couple of** ** challenges I've posted. Until next time, Ja Ne!**


	4. Chapter 4

**_The pairing for this story will be... drumroll please... NarutoxMei! To those of whom are concerned with how I will make this work, let me assure you that I have everything planned out._**

_**Now on the whole apartment issue in Chapter 1, I will fix that... eventually. Also why did Kushina abuse Naruto when she herself was**_**_ a ji_**_**nchurki? Minato's death traumatized **_**_her so much, she gave into alcoholism and saw Naruto as Kurama( the Kyuubi.) Will Sasuke act any different since he knows of the reason Itachi massacred the Uchiha clan? You'll see in this chapter._**

And remember... review or I KILL YOU!

* * *

><p><em>"You don't want me here! Well good! I'm leaving this hellhole and never coming back!"<em>

Namikaze-Uzumaki Kushina woke up with a gasp, before breaking down into sobs as she recalled _that_dream. It's a dream she's been having for the last seven years. As the tears started to flow, she remembered the morning after she lost her sochi, the last family she had left.

_Flashback_

"Uhhhh..."

Hungover, Kushina rose up from the floor where Naruto's **Shinra Tenshi**had thrown her when his Rinnegan activated.

"What happened?" she thought hazily. It was then she remembered the previousnights events.

"So...," she said thinking out loud(_**A.N. This happens to me all the**_** time.)**after a minute."The demon left. Good riddance."

Getting up from the floor onto her feet, Kushina thought "Minato-kun, you have been avenged... Uhhh... I need to sleep this hangover off."

_End Flashback_

Just thinking about it made Kushina want to travel to the past and slap herself.

_How/Why did she do_ _that to when she had too been a jinchurki? Especially considering the fact the biju she held was also the Kyuubi?_

She had no answers to those questions.

Even more tears fell as she recalled the day she found the scroll from Minato that detailed the seal, how it contained the Fox, and the effects on Naruto.

_Flashback_

"It's been a year since the demon left," thought Kushina as she stood in front of the door to her deceased husband's study. "And it's been six years since you and our son were taken from me."

Taking a deep breath, Kushina opened the door to Minato's study. The study was approximately 25' by 30'. It had on three walls bookcases filled to the brim with scrolls which contained various things, ranging from Raiton jutsus to storage scrolls for the three pronged kunai the deceased Hokage used for his famed and feared Hirashin. In the center of the study was a desk, clear entirely of clutter with the exception of one single scroll that was neatly placed upon the desk's center. Kushina walked up to the desk and picked up the scroll. Inspecting it, she noticed written on it in Minato's neat hand writing was "For Kushina-hime." Sitting down in her husband's old leather chair behind his desk, Kushina opened up the scroll and began to read. By the time she finished, her eyes were wide with. Dropping the scroll from her trembling hands, Kushina fell off the chair unto the floor. There she curled into a tight ball and began to sob uncontrollably while thinking "What have I done?"

_End flashback_

Wiping her eyes, Kushina began to compose herself before getting out of bed to get ready for the day. Unknown to her, her wish to see her sochi once again would come true sooner than she had ever anticipated.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Unknown<strong> **Location**_

A white haired self proclaimed "super pervert" looked into the eyes of his 9 peers before taking a deep breath and stating "My fellow Ju Shinobi Shogun(1), my spy network has indicated that my old teammate Orochimaru has assassinated the Kazekage, impersonated him, and is planning an invasion of Konohagakure no Sato during the finals of the Chunin exams using the resources of Suna and Oto."

The other nine looked at each other before returning their gaze to the tenth who they could tell was not done speaking. "Furthermore," the Gama Sennin continued "I have news of Akatuski. One member is accompanying the former jinchurki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune to Konoha."

One other member of the Shogun spoke up "Why?"

The spymaster replied grimly "To eliminate Orochimaru before being formally inducted in Akatuski."

"So you're telling us that little nine ain't one of the fine no more?" another Shogun interjected.(2)

Jiraiya instantly replied "I am afraid so."

"Anything else Jiraiya?" asked a man dressed in a black trenchcoat with kanji for storm and "Amphiptere sage"(3) on the back.

"Nothing else my fellow Shogun," replied the ero-sennin.

"Anything else anyone?" asked the trenchcoated man. "No? Then if I may, I'll..." He was cut off when a messenger toad popped into existance next to Jiraiya.

Jiraiya pulled out a piece of chocolate, gave to the toad who croaked in thanks, and pulled the scroll tied onto its back. Unrolling it, the spymaster read the contents before burning it with Katon jutsu. He looked up at his fellow Shogun before speaking in a grave tone "The kekkai genkai rebels in Kiri have fallen."

* * *

><p>Sasuke Uchiha sat down in the lotus position and started to meditate.<p>

Contrary to the expectations of many, Sasuke was not an avenger. Part of him wanted to confront his brother and question him, while another part want to find Itachi, embrace him, and never let go.

Sighing, the last Uchiha opened his eyelids to show the world his constantly activated 3 tomoed Sharigan. He got up started to walk towards the bridge where his chronically tardy jonin sensei and teammates would meet. While walking he thought of all that had occured to him in the seven years since the massacre. Sasuke had swore that if he ever encountered the boy who left with his brother, the first words out of his mouth would be "Where is Itachi-niisan?"

* * *

><p>Naruto paused to inspect his storage scrolls that contained his supplies before continuing to the exit of the base. Standing at the entrance were Konan, who would be his faux jonin sensei, and Pain.<p>

"Ready to go Naruto?" asked Konan. Konan had for the journey abandoned her Akatsuki robe and donned a pair of black ANBU pants, a black long sleeved shirt, and a jonin vest. Overall, she could easily pass for what she looked like.

Naruto nodded.

Right before the duo exited the base, Itachi's voice came out behind them.

"Wait."

Konan and Naruto turned around to face Itachi. Itachi walked up to Naruto, looked him in the eyes, and told him "If you encounter my brother Sasuke, tell him I'm dead."

In response, Naruto asked "Why?"

Itachi closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, his Mangekyou Sharigan was active. "So he can gain this. After he does, tell him I'm not really dead in private. Will you do that for me?"

Naruto nodded and replied "Hai, Itachi-sensei."

With that Konan and Naruto exited the base and started their journey to Konoha.

* * *

><p><strong>And cut.<br>**

**(1) Ju Shinobi Shogun is a concept created by one of my two biggest influences Aragon Potter (the other is fujin of shadows.) It appears in his story "Brother's Bond." However, unlike Aragon Potter's Shogun, my Shogun keep their allegiance to their villages.**

**(2) Killer Bee is another member of the Shogun in this story.**

**(3) An amphiptere is a feathered wingless serpant.**

**Remember to read and review. Until next time, ASDFG56 out.  
><strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Have you heard! The owners of FanFiction are planning on taking down stories that have lemons! Apparently, they don't believe that stories that have such mature stuff should be allowed. Its not our fault that such things are interesting to us. If they wanted to do something, they would just make a MA rating category that contains stuff like that, bellow is a petition that is signed by authors who share the same feelings we do. Read it, Sign it, and Pass it on.**

Greetings to the fine folk that moderate our site.

Myself, along with many, have been writing and posting on your fine site for years now, some of the better examples of up and coming writers out there are now suddenly finding some of the stories we've come to love at risk of being removed without the chance to even rectify our errors.

For some, that means the permanent loss of a story. While I don't have anything that I believe violates your terms of use, there are those out there that are never able to recover a story in its original form, this is something I find to be almost worthy of a legal action, as while we cannot claim ownership of a character, the stories are OURS and simply destroying them is something that is inexcusable.

It's quite easy to simply add an MA rating, additional filters or even a simple requirement for a free membership to read the stories presented here, and would cut down on hateful anonymous reviews and posts at the same time, so I have to question as to why such a thing, in all this time, simply wasn't added.

If you're worried about falsification of a registration then have an appropriate disclaimer and then there can be no dispute, you took your steps and the PARENTS didn't monitor their children, if that is even your concern. If it is more of a personal view or desire then please at least let people know and give them a chance to remove a story that you and yours find offensive, most people on the site are actually rather cordial when it comes to such requests.

While I cannot say for sure if this letter will even reach those that may be willing to listen, of if it's more akin to a wide spectrum purge in preparation for something bigger, please understand that you are going to be looseing a LARGE number of your writers, and thus your income from a lack of readers if there is not some level of action taken to help with this situation.

For those that may agree with this, please feel free to sign on and send this to the support server, maybe we can get some movement on this.

Psudocode_Samurai

Rocketman1728

dracohalo117

VFSNAKE

Agato the Venom Host

Jay Frost

SamCrow

Blood Brandy

Dusk666

Hisea Ori

The Dark Graven

BlackRevenant

Lord Orion Salazar Black

Sakusha Saelbu

Horocrux

socras01

Kumo no Makoto

Biskoff

Korraganitar the NightShadow

NightInk

Lazruth

ragnrock kyuubi

SpiritWriterXXX

Ace6151

FleeingReality

Harufu

Exiled crow

Slifer1988

Dee Laynter

Angeldoctor

Final Black Getsuga

ZamielRaizunto

Fenris187

blood enraged

arashiXnoXkami

Masane Amaha's King

Blueexorist

Nero Angelo Sparda

Konoha's Nightmare

Gundam Epyion

Gold Testament

ASDFG56


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